The origin of the Trulsås family reunions is from the genealogical
work done by the
school teacher Sven Josef Flodén in Mölndal.
He had genealogy as a hobby.
His father was the well known Congo missionary Svante
August Flodén, who
was born at Björnås in 1861 and who traveled to Africa
in 1862. Sven Josef was
born in Congo but was raised by a family in Lerum, since the climate
in Congo was
considered too dangerous for a small child.
Missionary Flodén himself had an ardent interest in his native
place Skallsjö. He
loved his family history. Later on he told his son Sven Josef about
old times and the
people who lived in the forests at Floda during his youth. Doing genealogical
work
Sven Josef found his great grandfather Per
Nilsson who was born in 1757 and
lived at Trulsås. Through already known relatives the very first
invitation for a
family social gathering went out. It was held on December
9, 1945 at Floda
Mission Covenant church. Relatives from nearby as well as from
Göteborg and
Alingsås showed up.
About the first family gathering we can read that Sven Josef (SJ) Flodén
greeted
everyone welcome and his father missionary Flodén spoke
about old times. He
talked about Trulsås and many old relatives, about toil and moil
from 5am to 8pm
and about the revival that got a start during his youth and which changed
many
people's way of living. Arnold Björnerås interviewed
DalAnders, Gottfrid
at Solbacken and Karl Larsson. The family choir sang and Lucia with
her maids
offered "Trulsås blend" and Lussekatter (buns).
In that line the family reunions have continued every year or
two years, although
lately more seldom. Reunions have been held at Skallsjö Skogar's
Mission Hall,
Bocksmossen, Tolerydshage, Västerdal, Tvärsjödal, Skallsjögården,
Abborrhallen
and at Vänhem, Nääs.
When the reunions started out the gatherings took all day long. There
was time to
have coffee with rusks, take walks, play and have different kinds of
competitions,
make conversations and jokes, play instruments and sing, eat herring
and 'tatoes,
and listen to interviews with older relatives. Orations were
delivered to the
memories of deceased relatives. New-borns and newlyweds were introduced.
Contributing speakers have been different members of the family and
ministers
as well as men like Västgöta-Bengtsson and Dan Korn. An excursion
to Trulsås
has often ended the reunion gatherings. The missionary interest was
at first held alive
by several Congo missionaries in the family who would talk about their
mission.
Five known family branches were invited to the first reunion
in 1945 . They
were the Petter-family from Tvärsjödal,
the Hans-family from Brännekulla,
the Lars-family from Hunneberg,
the Anders-family from Björnås
and the
Karl-family from Sundet.
In 1995 the 25th family reunion was held at Nääs.
The sun was shining and
more than 200 relatives of Per at Trulsås' enjoyed their picnic
baskets sitting
on the slopes at Vänhem.
From Sven Josef Flodén's small cardboard box filled
with information about the
family branches there is now a family tree in a computer
data base. This will
make it possible for the next generation of Trulsås relatives
to get to know each
other, and to learn about the family history from a time that
seem so distant.
Source:
Kristina Björnerås. |
