What Happened to Viktor Herman Bredbacka?
by Joelle Steele
Viktor Herman Bredbacka was born on March 7, 1876 in Terjärv, Finland. He was the youngest child of Matts Andersson Stål Sandkulla (Stålas Matt”) (09/09/1826-07/29/1919) and Lisa Greta Johansdotter Bredbacka (07/22/1831-05/17/1903). In 1894, Viktor moved to America where he married his first cousin once removed (1C1R), Emma Helena Andersdotter Furu (09/19/1873-01/20/1958).
Viktor and Emma had four children: Emma Olivia (11/18/1898-07/20/1985); Viktor Verner (04/12/1900-01/16/1970); Edna Alice (09/04/1903-10/23/1905); and Judit Jumina (12/09/1904-07/09/1996). The first three children were born in New York City, and Judit was born in Terjärv.
Viktor is of special interest to me for two reasons:
First, is our relationship. Viktor is my great-granduncle and my first cousin three times removed (1C3R). He and I are related through a small part of my family tree that stems entirely from my 3x great-grandparents, Anders Sandkulla Stål and Lena Cajsa Björkbacka who had two sons:
1) Jacob Sandkulla Granvik-Sandkulla, who married Anna Bexar and had a daughter, Helena Sofia Granvik-Sandkulla, who married Anders Furu and had daughters Emma Helena (my grand aunt) and Helny Maria (my grandmother).
2) Matts Sandkulla Stål married Lisa Greta Bredbacka and they were the parents of my great-granduncle Viktor Herman Bredbacka and my great-grandmother Anna Sandkulla Bredbacka. Anna Sandkulla Bredbacka married Matts Sandkulla Stål Granö, and they were the parents of my grandfather Anders Joel Sandkulla Stål Granö who married my grandmother, Helny Maria Furu. Viktor Herman Bredbacka was first cousin to Helny’s mother Helena. He married Helny’s sister Emma, his first cousin once removed (1C1R).
Second, Viktor went missing some time in or after 1904. He and Emma had married on February 19, 1898 at Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church, 1 55 E. 22nd Street in New York City (still standing). They lived in Harlem where they took in borders (“bordaren”). Viktor worked as a housing construction foreman and was known as the “brossn” or “Breidback brossn” (the origin of the word “brossn” being uncertain).
In 1904, Emma, pregnant with their fourth child, Judit, left New York with their three children and returned to Terjärv. Emma told the family that Viktor was going to be returning as well, but he never did. Their youngest daughter Judit (12/09/1904-07/09/1996) was born in Terjärv and never met her father. Judit told me and my mother Norma, her first cousin, that Emma told her Viktor was known to take a drink and get into a bar fight on occasion and she wondered if he had met with danger. She said he had written to her and then suddenly stopped. So, after not hearing any news of Viktor for some time, Emma had him declared dead in Finland in 1913.
However, Victor was far from dead – just very hard to find. In 2020, Victor’s great-grandson, Ove Storvall (my 2C1R), was in contact with Carl V. Lillvik, the nephew by marriage of Victor’s daughter, Emma Olivia Bredbacka Jameson. Carl, who must be an amazing researcher or just got extremely lucky, found Victor, and told Ove what he found: In 1918, Victor was working as a carpenter for the National Ship Building Co. in Orange, Texas, where he lived at 306 First Street (building no longer there). On his work registration card, he was using the name Victor Herman Matson, and he listed his nearest relative as “Charlie Matson” – his nephew, Karl Hugo Mattsson Berg Bredbacka (05/27/1880-09/19/1960), who had come to America in 1900.
It’s not known how long Victor worked for National Ship Building. But nine years later, on April 18, 1927, he pled guilty to possessing liquor for sale (during prohibition) and was sentenced to one year in the Texas State Penitentiary in Houston, Harris County, Texas. He was discharged on March 16, 1928. In the prison records it states that he was 51 years old, 5’10” tall, 167 lbs, blue eyes, black hair, medium fair/white complexion, had no religion, used tobacco, was a laborer, had 3 years of school, could read, was able to work, and was not married.
What happened to Viktor after his release from prison, and the date and place of his death are still unknown as of 2022.
