From mechanic in Skövde to engineer in Baltimore

Gerhard Styrlander & Anna Ledkie


  Frans Gerhard Styrlander (10/11 1861 – after 1924)
  C4 branch [1.2.10.4.6.2]
  Son of Abel Styrlander & Hilda Hultman
  Sätra, Undenäs, Västergötland
  Engineer, mechanic, draughtsman
icon-globe  Emigrated to Baltimore 1889


  Anna Ledkie (1884 – May 1950)
  Germany
  Practical nurse
  At least 2 children


  Primary sources
  23-05-2021


Gerhard goes to Stockholm in 1880 to train as a mechanic. He lives at no. 7 Adam och Eva block in Klara parish. He returns after one year of training and moves to Skövde town in 1885 with a view to finding a job. Five years later he has become a draughtsman at Skövdes Mekaniska Verkstad, a mechanic workshop located next to the sanatorium where his father works (Read more about the workshop and its founder John Grönvall here).

Skövdes Mekaniska Verkstad 1889. Förmodligen är Gerhard med på bilden. Källa: Vastarvet.se.

Skövdes Mekaniska Verkstad 1889. It is likely that Gerhard is in this picture, possibly the one furthest to the left in the second row? Source: Vastarvet.se.

In 1891 he decides to emigrate to Baltimore in Maryland, where he marries a young German woman by the name of Anna Ledkie. She is 23 years his junior.

They have at least 2 children.

  • 1.   Erik Gerhard Styrlander (12/4 1904 – 19/11 1980)
    •  icon-user Selia Jalkanen icon-play
  • 2.   Elizabeth Meta Styrlander (22/3 1907 – 8/10 1994)
    •  ? Smith

In the 1920s they live at 3022 Walbrook Avenueicon-map-marker, a relatively posh address. Anna eventually becomes a practical nurse with a private practice.

3022 Walbrook Avenue in Baltimore. Source: Google.

In 1902 he is back in Sweden to witness the baptism of his sister’s daughter Ingrid Else Marianne Sundequist in Linköping. By then he is registered as an engineer.

He dies sometime between 1924 and 1934, and Anna then moves to Miami. However, she eventually dies in Owings Mills in Baltimore in 1950 and is buried in the Loudon Park Cemetery.


Research data

  •  name (others’ spellings): Frans Gerhard (1861-1885); Frans Gerhard Styrlander (1885-1891); Gerhard Styrlander (1920-1924); Gerhardt Styrlander (1994)
  •  name (others’ spellings): Anna Styrlander (1920); Anna Ledkie (1994)
  •  b. Undenäs 1861: v4705.b114
  •  hous.ex. 1861-1881;1881-1891 Undenäs: v10035.b227.s219(1861-1870); v10038.b248.s238(1870-1874); Skövde: v25251.b137.s132(1874); v25251.b155.s150(1875-1878); v25249.b251.s246(1878-1879); v25250a.b1670.s161(1879-1880); v25341.b239.s229(1880-1881); v25341.b239.s229(1881-1885); v25254.b250.s892(1885-1891)
  •  cens. 1920 Baltimore: 1920
  •  cens. 1920-1940 Miami: 1935-1940
  •  emig.: 1923; 1923; 1924