Volume 1: Annika Sterrenberg (2007): The Eskilson Family: Its History and Genealogy: Pursuing the American Dream
Heartland 1/ WVT
ISBN 978-3-88476-961-4
€ 19,00, US$ 26,00
In the United States, many milk processing plants are to this day operated as family businesses that once were established by immigrants from Northern Europe. The milk processing plant described in this paper is no exception. In 1899, C.B. Eskilson, a Danish immigrant to the United States, founded Englewood Dairy on Chicago’s south side, which later became known as Dixie Dairy Company, an Illinois Corporation, and was operated in Beecher, Illinois and Gary, Indiana. Through hard work, sacrifices, flexibility, and wise decisions, C.B. Eskilson was able to achieve his own personal American Dream and to provide his descendants with a better future. To understand the complexity of this particular family business, or any family business, it is essential to examine the family history behind it.
The family history will come to life through additional materials, such as a large family tree, photographs and a video.
87 pp., 172 fig., 1 video
Table of Contents
Table of Contents 3
1 Introduction 4
2 Finding Useful Sources 6
2.1 Tracing the Eskilsons 6
2.2 Objective 7
3 The Eskilson Family: An Exemplary Case of Genealogical Research 8
3.1 Family History of the Eskilson Family 8
3.2 The Eskildsens 20
3.3 Life-Story of Chris Toft Westergaard, Farmer and Marksman 33
3.4 The Eskilson Family in Pursuit of the American Dream 49
3.5 Locating the Eskilson Family: From Søndervang to Gary and Beecher 52
3.5.1 Søndervang, Denmark 53
3.5.2 Gary, IN and Beecher, IL 56
4 Dixie Dairy: An Exemplary Case of Milk Processing 59
4.1 Dixie Dairy Company History 59
4.2 Interview with Thomas Eskilson, Former Owner of Dixie Dairy 66
4.3 Dixie Dairy in the News: 1975-2003 75
4.4 How Dixie Dairy Got its Name 80
References i
Table of Figures i
Literature iv
cultural studies in the heartland of