My Dad was 1/2 Swedish, on his father's side. I have pictures of his father and his wife, eg. grandparents. From different regions of Sweden (towns of Karlstad, and near Vajxo, Kronoberg , but both dark haired. Came to Minnesota in 1871 and 1863 respectively.
My Dad had nearly black hair, and blue eyes, and a light slightly freckled complexion, probably from his North British mother.
If you don't already know about it, Vilhelm Moberg wrote fascinating books about Swedish immigration to America.
If you like music, check out "Kristina from Duvelama" a musical play based on Moberg's books, by the two guys from ABBA, you know they wrote "Mama Mia." (Bjorn and Bennie)
I read both
The Emigrants and
Unto a Good Land, and loved them both! I didn't realize that there was a musical based on Moberg's books. I'll have to check that out!
I lived in the TC's for 6 years, and went to Stillwater and the area where the stories took place (Well, the Minnesota part!).
As for the hair coloring, I only have photos of my grandparents when they were young (3 of 4 died before I was born), and their hair looks very dark (ALL were born in Sweden), but my Dad was a redhead and my Mom a blonde, so I don't know if it was just the lighting, or if they were ash blondes.
The one time I was in Sweden, I noticed that most of the adults weren't blondes, but when I went to a Swedish ancestry college in MN, most of the pure Swedish students were blonder than I.
Incidentally, 3 of 4 of my grandparents were from the Karlstad area........one really close, one from Nora, and the other came from what my Mom referred to as "Norland" (which I guess was anything north of Karlstad!). My b-in-l does the ancestry thing, and found out she was really from Vitsand, which isn't all that far north.
I always pictured her as being from Lappland, but it was really in or near Dalarna.
