A personalized Estwing Hammer from Rockford.

I am very happy for the special present and nice letter I yesterday get by post from Martin J Tucket Jr, chairman of the board of Estwing Manufacturing Co. We met some year ago when I visited Rockford, Illinois. My dear friend the chairman of the Oland Club in Rockford, John C Nelson was with me.

(Photo: The Öland-delegation together with mayor Morrisey,

John, Barbara, Linda, Anne and Wendy in Rockford City Hall.)

Since the year of 2000 have we a sistercitie agreement between Rockford and Borgholm. Rockford has a very strong Swedish-American Historical Society and even this specially Oland Club.

Students from Ölands Gymnasium was practising in restaurant Stockholm Inn, Rockford some years ago. Artists from Öland was invited to an exhibition inRockford two years ago and this autumn are artists from Rockford invited for an exhibition at VIDA museum.

We have many wonderful friends in Rockford, I as many inhabitants in the municipality of Borgholm have also own relatives in Rockford. The Brown and Benson families. It was a brother to my grandmother who emigrated from Djupvik here on northern Öland.

There was also a lot of emigrants who went back to Öland again. My husbands grandfather was one o them who bought a farm here on the island for money he earned in Rockford, America.

One of the boys who get money for a ticket to US from relatives who already had emigrated was Ernst Johansson. Ernst was borned 1884 in a small village on northern Öland named Trosnäs,Persnäs. He emigrated to Rockford 1900.

There was so many Swedes named Johansson/Johnsson in Rockford/Chicago so Ernst wanted a more special name. He took the name Estwing. The name was after his home farm on northern Öland, in Trosnäs, where the family lived close to the baltic sea on the EAST WING of the coast. Its a wonderful story, and you can read more about Ernest Estwing in swedish on http://www.olandsbladet.se/.

When I first heard about this Estwinghammer from Rockford ( which was used when Armstrong placed the first USflag on the moon) did I ask my husband who is a carpenter if he know about this special hammer. I get the answer -Of course, every carpenter has at least one Estwinghammer.

My husband are a bit yellous now on my personalized Estwinghammer with my name printed in on the leather grip.

This hammer will be used for boardmeetings. It´s tuff economical times now and there will be a lot of tuff decissions to take for the municipalities. Any way, from now I am able to use a very extraordinary chairman gavel. I just love it!

It will be very interesting to be able to see some of the Estwing factory next time I visit Rockford.

(Together with Mayor Larry Morrisey, Rockford and mayor Bernd Dikau, Lohmen, Germany in Löttorp, northern Öland)

(Photo with specially greetings to John ,Barbara, the Bensonfamily and all my friends. As you can see so are little Josefine still a small ragamuffin.. Here on her mothers and fathers weddingphoto, together with small sister Denise.)