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The first child of Henrik Larsson and Johanna Mansdotter was born 14 Nov. 1850 in the hamlet of
Hillarp, Munka-Ljungby Parish of Kristianstad Lan, Sweden. Ludvig Henriksson, later known as Charles
Louis Hendricks, first came to the United States via New York in May of 1872.
He traveled from Goteborg, Sweden to Hull, England on the steamship Orlando, and then from Liverpool, England
to New York on the City of Montreal.
Charles Louis eventually ended up in Osage City, Kansas where a cousin owned a farm. After a few weeks of working as
a farm laborer, Charles found himself working for the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad as a teamster during the
summer of 1872. When the railroad work closed down for the winter, Charles, at age twenty-two, found himself a member
of a buffalo-hunting team near Dodge City, Kansas. His job was to flay (skin) the buffalo. By 1873 Charles was packing
hides in Dodge City.
Charles Louis Hendricks
Sometime in 1874, Charles, while working as a waiter in a Kansas City hotel, met two other Swedes, who were headed
to Worcester, MA. He became an employee of the Washburn and Moen Wire Company. Initially he was the coachman for Mr.
Philip Moen. Soon he was transferred to the wire-drawing section of the factory. He started making window screens,
and for the last eighteen years of his career at Washburn and Moen (American Steel and Wire Company) he was involved
in the making of wires for pianos and other musical instruments. It was while working here, Ludvig Henriksson came to
be known as Charles L. Hendrickson.
Charles returned to Sweden from 1877 to 1879. While in Sweden Charles became engaged to Thilda Olsdotter (Mathilda
Olsson). Both Charles and Thilda departed for the United States on 2 May 1879.
Charles (the former Ludvig Henriksson) and Mathilda (the former Thilda Olsdotter) were married 23 August 1879 in
Worcester, MA by an Episcopal clergyman, since there was not yet a Swedish Lutheran church in Worcester. Residing in
Worcester, the first three children (Esther, Henning, and Edith) were born. As a founding member of the Swedish
Evangelical Lutheran Gethsemane Church in Worcester, Charles used the name of Carl Ludwig Henrickson. On 26 October
1883 Charles became a naturalized citizen using the name Charles L. Hendrickson.
In 1885 the family moved into a newly constructed house in the center of Holden containing almost fifteen acres of land.
It was in Holden that the last two children (Jennie and Charles, Jr.) were born. Charles continued working as a wire drawer
in the steel mill. Charles worked long, regular hours in the steel mill and then returned home in the early evening to tend
the farm that helped feed and support a growing family.
Charles retired from U.S. Steel in 1915, at age sixty-five. In 1918 he sold nearly all of his farm land to Fred W.
Bascom, who eventually built Holden’s first subdivision known as Laurelwood Road.
On 9 September 1925 Charles had the Worcester County Probate Court change his name officially to Charles Louis
Hendricks, a name that he had been using for over twenty-five years.
Charles died 16 May 1933 at the age of eighty-two. He is buried in the family plot in Grove Cemetery, Holden, MA.
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