Tim Walz is descended from Runkarp and Horred

Published 13 August 2024 at 17.02

Foreign. Tim Walz has a good chance of becoming the Vice President of the United States. It is now reported that his ancestors came from the village of Runkarp outside Ljungby in Småland. He also has roots in Horred in Västergötland.

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Tim Walz was recently named the vice candidate for the Democrats' Kamala Harris.

He is governor of Minnesota, which is dominated by descendants of Scandinavians and Germans (and, more recently, Somalis).

Walz himself has both German and Swedish ancestry, and Smålandsposten is now writing about his origin from Runkarp in Småland. The governor is a descendant of Johan Peter Salomonsson and Inga Maria Christersdotter, who emigrated from Södra Ljunga to America in 1869.

Despite the fact that Johan Peter (who was born in Runkarp in 1842) died shortly after arriving in the USA, the family continued to grow in the new country. His son, Charles G Samuelsson married Jenny Mathilda Peterson, whose mother came from Horred in Marks municipality and whose father was also Swedish. This is according to a post by genealogist Mats Ahlgren on Rötterbloggen. Charles and Jenny had a daughter, Myrtle Samuelsson, who became Tim Walz's grandmother.

Today Walz, himself born in Nebraska, can thus be considered a quarter-Swedish.

His potential role as US Vice President makes him another world-famous person with roots in the Södra Ljunga area, like the father of Swedish gymnastics, Per Henrik Ling.