Gullholmen is a very small Island in the Bohuslän Archipelago on the west coast of Sweden, between Sweden and Norway, however in particular there are three small islands adjacent each other, Gullholmen, Härmanö, and Råön. Gullholmen and Härmanö are literally only 30 metres from each other and connected by a pedestrian bridge, and Råön island is only 50 metres from Härmanö. Our ancestors inhabited these three islands from at least the 16th century until now.
At this time the Bohuslän Coast that included the Morlanda islands, including Gullholmen, Härmanö, and Råön, were a part of Norway not becoming Swedish until 1858.
Nils Hermansson is the earliest recorded ancestor from the Islands. Nils was born in 1615, 410 years ago on the Island of Härmanö, adjacent to Gullholmen. Nils is the 9 x great grandfather of our generation. His daughter, Karin was born on Härmanö and died on Gullholmen.
The Island is now a big tourist attraction especially for yacht owners cruising the picturesque coastline. Back in the late 1700s it was almost uninhabited apart from a few families living off the rich coastal fishing. An industry quickly developed in the early 1800s when tinned foods were developed to preserve the contents for a year or more, the plentiful sardines were perfect for canning and sending off to rapidly growing markets for preserved fish especially for supplying the military on campaigns across Europe and other continents. The great herring epoch of the 18th and 19th centuries saw the community expand with canning factories, salting-houses and sail-makers abounding. Sailing cutters started to be used for fishing and cargo, which transformed Gullholmen into a lively shipping and fishing town
Another branch of the family to arrive at Gullholmen was Olof Andersson-Herm who moved there just before 1789. Olof was born off the Island in 1762 in a village called Håv, Tegneby on the mainland some 14 kilometers to the east. Olof and his wife Anna Lovisa Palmström had their first child, Maria, born at Gullholmen. Their second child Kristina was born on the island in 1792 and at 21 years she married Anders Arvidsson who was 30 years old. Anders had arrived on the Island in 1799 when he was 16 years old. Anders had made the move to Gullholmen in 1799 from an inland Swedish town called Rölanda , only 50 kilometres to the north. Rölanda was, and still is, a very small farming community quite close to the Norwegian border with Sweden. We can assume our family in Rölanda were likely farmhands on estates owned by the Nobel classes.
Anders was the owner of a fishing schooner and he became prominent in the Herring industry on the Island and along with the family they became quite wealthy. Anders married Kristina Olsdotter in 1813 at Gullholmen Church.
Anders and Kristina had 10 children. Samuel Arvidsson (our GGG Grandparent) who was Anders and Kristina’s second child born in 1821 on the Island. Samuel married Karin Jakobsdotter, in 1844 when he was 23 and she was 27, they married in the Gullholmen Church. Karin was born 1817 on the adjacent small island of Råön.
Samuel and his wife Karin’s house is still standing on the Island and is right next door to the Skipper Arvidsson Museum. This museum is named after our GGGG Grandfather, Anders.
All up there were many Arvidssons living on Gullholmen Island, at least 12 families are known to have lived there in the 1800s and 1900s. There is still an Arvidsson family, descendants from the original Anders, living on the Island today.
Click here to follow the story of Samuel and Karin’s last of 10 children, Anna Lovisa Arvidsson, our GG Grandmother who lost her father Samuel only three months after her birth.
The following graphic displays the family relationship between Nils Hermansson (born 1615 at Härmanö Island) to Gerd Meurer (born 1930 at Goteborg). Eight generations of ancestors from 1615 were born on the Morlanda Islands (Gullholmen, Härmanö, and Råön)
