Johann Wilhelm
Born
the 4th October 1856 in Norrkoping, Sweden. He was the oldest of six
brothers.
He always outstanded at school being an excellent student.
He used to excitedly remember when King Oscar II awarded him a gold
medal for being the only one in his class being able to answer a question
he had formulated.
He was a very intrepid person always seeking for
new things and experiences.At the age of 23, he was already travelling
towards the United States. There, he became the assistant of the Chief
Engineer responsible of planning the railways of the entire state
of Mississippi. It was here were he got the "Paludic flew" he had
to suffer for the rest of his life.
He then moved towards North Carolina
and later on to the state of Virginia. Very few is known about his
stay in these cities.
He entered the "masonries" and quickly became
a "maestro mason". Though he couldn't practice, he always remember
gratefully the degree achieved.
Eight years after he had left Sweden,
in 1887, at the age of 31, his resemblance for his country and his
relatives took him back to Stockholm. It was then when he met Emma
Fredrika Johanson; a young lady of 24 years old.
At this time, very
strong and outrageous fantasies about Argentina where spoken. Such
an interesting opportunity couldn't be ignored by such an intrepid
guy. After formalising his engagement with Emma, he departed towards
Argentina in 1888, at the age of 32.
Once in Argentina, his perfect
use of English and extreme difficulty to speak a totally new language
for him, as the Spanish was, made him establish strong roots in the
British community. He therefore started to work for the British capitalists
that were present by then.
This took him to the city of Mendoza. There,
he started using his experience acquired in Mississippi and became
the main assistant for the Chief Engineer responsible for the railway
trails in the region, including the first trans-andine trail. His
vast experience made him out stand in his job. Unfortunately, health
problems obliged him to quit this job a year later. Apparently the
climate wasn't appropriate for him.
Later on, he was named Manager
of the plant of butter and cheese founded by Mr James and Mr Thomas
by the Carcaraña River in 1889. He there installed Swedish machines
(Alfa Laval) and others that were imported by the company Yoldkal
& Brasten. Few years later the products made at this facility
received a lot of gold medals and prizes both at the Rural exposition
of Rosario and of Buenos Aires; the most important rural expositions
at that time.
Already decided to live in this country, he convinced
his relatives to start the long trip to Argentina and to bring his
future wife Emma. In June 1890 his parents and his youngest brother
Andres arrived to Argentina together with Emma. He then got immediately
married. A year later, his parents and brother started their way back
to their beloved country.
Johann and Emma stayed eight years in Carcaraña,
in a house that later became a colony for kids; the association for
handicapped childs of Rosario.
He took party in the revolution of July
26 1890 commanded by Dr Leandro N Alem. The revolution didn't succeed
and a short time later, Dr. Alem commited suicide. This shocked Johann
who then decided to keep a long distance with the politics of Argentina.
Carcaraña
was a city that revived in summer time due to the existence of holiday
vilas of the wealthy families of Rosario city. One of this families
was the Morlasco Arias, whose head, Pedro Morlasco Arias, convinced
Johann to install a facility to produce cheese and butter in Cordoba,
in a farm that he owned.
In 1897 Johann and his family moved to the
farm "Magallanes" situated in the county of Magallanes in Cordoba
State. The goods produced in this facility soon received awards of
all kinds in te same way that happened when he was in charge of the
facility in Carcaraña.
This facility had two serious problems at that
time: One was the long distance to the nearest town that was Marcos
Juarez which had to be done by horse. The other one was the usual
flooding of the San Antonio cañada which produced severe damages.
Despite all this, the company struggled to survive for 8 years but
had to close after that.
In April 1901, Dr. Victorino de la Plaza named
him manager of one of the farms he had in Marcos Juarez the "Molles".
He was at that time known as "The British". This knickname was given
to him because he was always heard using his english with Dr. Victorino
de la Plaza who really enjoyed practising this language with him.
In October the 2nd 1919 his landlord died and some months later ,
in 1921, he quitted managing "Molles".
From here on, something got
lost in the story we know.
Johann Wilhelm died in Buenos Aires on January
26th, 1940. He is resting in the cementery of "Leones" in Cordoba
city.
Emma Fredrike died in Rosario city on March 31st, 1940. She's
resting in a cementery in Rosario (cementerio disidente).
