Sutter-Yuba County Biographies

SETT THURE CARLSON

Transcribed by: Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

California, and more particularly Sutter County, has been the home of Sett Thure 
Carlson the greater part of his lifetime; for he was only seven years old when 
he accompanied his parents to the Golden State, whither they removed thinking to 
better their material condition.  He was born in Smaland, Sweden, June 7, 1863, 
a son of John Peter and Johanna (Munson-Soderlund) Carlson, both natives of 
Sweden.  John Peter Carlson was a wheelwright and cabinet-maker, as well as a 
blacksmith, being an all-around mechanic.  He brought his family to Chicago in 
1870, where he remained until the Spring of 1871.  Coming then to California he 
located in Sutter County, where he was in the employ of his brother-in-law, John 
Soderlund, a pioneer blacksmith and wagon-maker in Sutter county, located at 
Sutter Station.  While he was there, they completed the first all-steel plow 
made in California, which is still in possession of our subject, and prized very 
highly by him.  John Peter Carlson was in charge of the woodworking department 
of the establishment.  He also worked for a time as mechanic on railroad 
construction in Sutter County.  In 1875 he was farming in Sutter County; and 
from that time until 1878, when his crops were swept away by the flood, he 
enjoyed good crops and prosperity.  But he lost everything in the flood of 1878. 
 Eight children were born to this pioneer couple: Mary, deceased wife of Per 
Olson, survived by six children; Carl Peter; August, deceased; Sett Thure, of 
this sketch; Josephine E.; Frits, deceased, survived by five children; Emma M., 
deceased wife of M. C. Bailey, survived by two sons and one daughter; and 
Minnie, deceased.  August Carlson was in partnership with Sett Thure under the 
name of Carlson Brothers, until he met an accidental death while painting the 
inside of a 3000-gallon water tank with prepared asphalt paint No. 2.  There was 
no caution label on the can, nor had he been cautioned by the salesman.  He had 
painted from the top down, and when he started on the bottom the poison fumes 
overcame him and he was asphyxiated.  This was in 1909.  The mother passed away 
on December 25, 1899; the father survived until February 26, 1912.
Mr. Carlson and his brother Carl have farmed since 1878 in Sutter County.  S. T. 
Carlson owned 320 acres of the Starr ranch until 1916, when he sold 160 acres, 
which, however, he still operated.  Mr. Carlson was executor for his parents� 
estate, as well as his deceased brothers�.  His brother Frits and his wife died 
in Sutter City, of the flu, in 1918, leaving six children.  The oldest, Frits 
Byron, died of the flu two weeks after his parents; the others are Willard 
Wilfred, Lucile Anna, Norma Firth, Nylda Areta, and Enoma Jaunita.  These five 
children make their home with their uncle, Sett Thure Carlson, and their aunt, 
Miss Josephine Carlson, who are caring for them and rearing them as if they were 
their own.  Miss Josephine Carlson is a native daughter of Sutter County, born 
at Sutter Station, and is the owner of an eighty-acre ranch.  She presides 
competently and gracefully over her brother�s household and is the legal 
guardian of her five nieces and nephew just enumerated.  She is a member of the 
Barry Ladies� Aid.  Liberal and kind-hearted, Mr. Carlson and his sister are 
much appreciated and highly esteemed.  They enjoy dispensing the old-time 
California hospitality, and it is a pleasure and privilege to visit at their 
home.

History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 823