The Henry Peel Home
The Henry Peel Home about 1908.
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Silverhill, advertised as a wonderful placed to live with no diseases, attracted people who were not interested in buying acres of farmland, but living in a warm healthy environment. Henry and Laura Peel came to Silverhill for this reason.
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The above page from an advertising brochure translated by Ted Forsman:
The photograph is taken at Carl Vallentine's land, 3 miles from Silverhill.
The land is very inviting. There are no high hills. There are good streams with clear water.
There is no place more qualified to build a Sanatorium than Silverhill.
Doctors, pastors and others that are interested in a sanatorium for the sick and the feeble people, write to
SVEA LAND COLONY,
122 S. Clark Street, Suite 512, .....Chicago, Ill.
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Henry Peel, a Swedish immigrant, married Indiana native Laura Creamer Gilligan in 1896 in the Zion Lutheran Church of Chicago, Illinois. Henry was 40 and Laura was 26 years old at the time of their wedding. Laura had a young son, Harry Gilligan, from a previous marriage. Nine years earlier, Silverhill's founder Oscar Johnson had married Josephine Swanson in the same Swedish church.
Laura Creamer Gilligan Peel
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Laura Creamer standing next to her mother Sarah Jane Creamer about 1890.
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Laura and Henry Peel in Silverhill about 1915.
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Henry and Laura lived in Chicago, and then moved to Indiana to be nearer to her mother after her father had died. During the next few years, Laura began to suffer with Bright's disease (possibly diabetes). Her doctors advised her to move to a milder climate for improved health. After the death of her mother, Laura and Henry began to search for a place to live that would cure her illness.
The Henry Peel Home 1910.
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With information on the Swedish settlement in Alabama through his Swedish Chicago friends, Henry bought land in the town of Silverhill in 1908. He paid one thousand dollars for nearly an entire town block and there built a house on the main street.
The Henry Peel Home about 1915.
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Henry and Laura lived in the new house only a few years, when Laura realized that her health was not improving as she hoped it would. In 1916, they sold the house and moved to Leesburg, Florida. They continued moving, next to the mid-west then finally returning to her home in Indiana where Laura lived until her death at the age of 51 with her son and loving husband by her bedside.
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This is a recent satellite view of the town block 17, lots 3-4 and 7-24 that contained the house and barnyard totaling about 3 and 3/4 acres, highlighted in green, which Henry Peel owned. - Click to enlarge.
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Location: This building was on the south side of Silverhill Highway (104) between 1st Street and 2nd Street in the center of the block (town block 17, lots 3-4). This building still exists today as a private home.
DEED
Oscar T. Johnson (not the same person as Silverhill founding father Oscar Johnson) and wife Amanda Johnson deeded to Henry Peel all of Block 17 except lots 1, 2, 5, and 6 in the town of Silverhill, March 17, 1908.
Click here to see a PDF File of the Document 
Click here to see a typed copy of the Document.
The house, which had been built to promote good health, was bought by Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Gustafson and son Oscar from Iowa. In 1916, they paid eleven hundred dollars for the house and land. An addition expanded the size of the house. Oscar became a popular photographer, using part of their home for his photography studio.
The photograph to the right shows the Gustafson signature near the bottom.
In 1921, the Gustafsons made plans to move to Turnlock, California.
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Louise Johnson, graduation photo taken in the Gustafson studio about 1916 - Click to Enlarge.
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DEEDS
Henry and Laura Peel deeded to Oscar Gustafson all of Block 17 except lots 1, 2, 5, and 6 in the town of Silverhill, February 5, 1916.
Click here to see a PDF File of the Document
Oscar Gustafson deeded to Mission Church all of Block 17 except lots 1, 2, 5, and 6 in the town of Silverhill, June 6, 1921.
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The Mission church had secured a new pastor, who was staying with the Nels Benson family until they could find permanent housing. The church had previously received a gift of ten acres from Mr. Elfstrand on which to build a parsonage. They sold the ten acres and bought the Gustafson property for twenty-five hundred dollars, with a down payment of fifteen hundred.
The new pastor was recent Stockholm immigrant Rev. Albert Lundgren. He and his family were to live in the home while his younger brother, Elmer who was a photographer, would continue operations of the studio.
Rev. Lundgren asked for a loan from the church of eleven hundred dollars to bring his family from Sweden, with church members each paying fifty cents a month until the loan was paid. When told that this was an impossibility at that time, Rev. Lundgren resigned. He only remained pastor of the Mission church from February through June 1921 before leaving the church without a pastor. He was given fifty dollars toward transportation and he left for Chicago.
The parsonage had been bought and partially furnished by the church, so it was to be rented out for ten to twelve dollars a month.
After a year, the congregation, still owing the Gustafsons one thousand dollars, sold the property to Mr. and Mrs. N.A. Krenek for twenty-two hundred dollars.
DEED
Mission church deeded to N.A. Krenek all of Block 17 except lots 1, 2, 5, and 6 in the town of Silverhill, October 23, 1922.
Click here to see a PDF File of the Document
Mr. Krenek was nearing the age of seventy and was not able to care for his farm southwest of Silverhill. He sold his farm equipment and animals and moved to town in 1923, after repairs were made to the house.
Mrs. Agnes Krenek must not have been happy living in town. After a year, they were back in their farmhouse, where she died of a stroke.
Mr. Krenek moved back to his house in town and later married Verunika Neuman in 1926. Her daughter by a previous marriage was Mary. Mary and Bert Sandell wed in 1927 and built a cottage behind her mother's house on two lots of land that was given to them as a wedding gift by the Kreneks.
A view of Silverhill looking east from the center of town through a top window of the Peoples Supply taken by Frank Stewart the Picture Man about 1930. The dirt road would become highway 104.
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The Kreneks eventually sold and gave all of the town lots to the Sandells. The two lots on the main road containing the Peel house were sold to Hans and Anna Erickson in 1936. Mr. and Mrs. Erickson were an older couple whose daughter was married to Paul C. Anderson with two daughters of their own.
DEEDS
N.A. Krenek and Veronika Krenek deeded to Bert Sandell and Mary Sandell lots 23 and 24 of Block 17 in the town of Silverhill, August 8, 1927.
Click here to see a PDF File of the Document
N.A. Krenek and Veronika Krenek deeded to Marie Sandell lots 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 of Block 17 in the town of Silverhill, July 28, 1932.
Click here to see a PDF File of the Document
N.A. Krenek deeded to Veronica Krenek lots 3 and 4 and 7, 8, 9 of Block 17 in the town of Silverhill, July 29, 1932. (Lots containing Peel house.)
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N.A. Krenek and Veronika Krenek deeded to Bert Sandell and Mary Sandell lots 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 of Block 17 in the town of Silverhill, August 22, 1935. (Lots containing Peel house.)
Click here to see a PDF File of the Document
Bert Sandell and Mary Sandell deeded to Hans G. Erickson and Anna O. Erickson lots 3 and 4 of Block 17 in the town of Silverhill, September 3, 1936. (Lots containing Peel house.)
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Bert Sandell and Mary Sandell deeded to Nels Olson and Anna Olson lots 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 23 of Block 17 in the town of Silverhill, March 6, 1942. (Lots containing Sandell cottage.)
Click here to see a PDF File of the Document
The Sandells outgrew their honeymoon cottage which they sold, including the remainder of the lots, to Nels and Anna Olson in 1942. Mr. and Mrs. Olson had gotten married late in life and had no children. They ran a small chicken farm behind their cottage.
The two homes were to change hands many more times throughout the coming years. It had all started in 1908, when a loving husband was trying to find his wife help for an incurable disease.
Written by Debbie Owen
September 2022
Below are photos of the two homes in recent years, Silverhill, Alabama.
Click each picture to Enlarge.
Henry Peel home, September 19, 2022.
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Henry Peel home, September 19, 2022.
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Bert Sandell cottage with back of Henry Peel house on the left, September 19, 2022.
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Bert Sandell cottage, September 19, 2022.
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Bert Sandell cottage.
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Bert Sandell cottage.
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Resources
Easley, Judy (Goddaughter of Anna and Nels Olson). Email discussion with Debbie Owen. September 20, 2022. Silverhill, Alabama.
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