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Name: LINDSTROM, Gillis 'Fish'
Birth Date: 30 Jan 1882 Göteborgs Kristine, Sweden
Death Date: 23 May 1958 Njoro
First Date: 1920
Last Date: 1958
Profession: Farmer
Area: 'Sergoita Farm', Njoro
Married: In Jönköping, Sweden 17 Apr 1911 Ingrid de Maré b.10 Nov 1890 Eksjö, Stadsförsamling, Sweden, d. 13 Dec 1983 Nakuru
Children: Nils Julius (14 Apr 1912 Skäne, Sweden); Harriet (Barnes then Geohegan) (Västra Ed, Sweden); Nina Ingrid (18 Oct 1915 Västra Ed); Ulla Viveka (Stjernswõrd) (15 May 1917 Västra Ed--28 Apr 1996 Kensington, London)
Book Reference: Nellie, Midday Sun, Markham, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Hut, EA & Rhodesia, Red 22, Stud, Pioneers, Chandler
General Information:
Arrived from Sweden with 4 small children, a lot of optimism and practically no money at all. They lived in a cheerful and hospitable kind of muddle.
Nellie - The Lindstrom family had emigrated from Sweden, impulsively, in 1920, with a clutch of children ranging in age from nine to three. Gillis Lindstrom had been an officer in the Swedish cavalry. Four years of wartime mobilization without action had made him restless, and when it was over he went to EA to seek adventure. Like others, he fell in love with the country and bought, or booked, about 1000 acres at Njoro, on which he intended to grow flax. Everyone, at that time, was going to make a fortune out of flax. Then, after sending instructions to Ingrid to sell everything in Sweden and follow with the family, he went on a long hunting expedition with his friend Bror von Blixen. ....(more) ......…
about 3 miles from Tom Petrie. ........ The Africans called him 'Bwana Samaki', meaning Fish, detecting, in his pensive demeanour and slightly protuberant eyes, a piscine expression. So Fish he became to all his friends. Quite a lot of Scandinavians settled in Kenya and most of them, it seemed, were related to the Lindstroms. .......
A frequent visitor to Sergoita was the Baron von Blixen-Finecke, well known both as a white hunter and as the husband of Karen.
Midday Sun - Gillis ....... was often absent trying to make a little money out of safari work or managing plantations in unhealthy parts of Tanganyika, leaving Ingrid to take care of the children and to the gradual creation of a farm.
EA & Rhodesia - 17/7/58 - Mr Gillis Lindstrom, who had farmed in Kenya and Tanganyika since 1920, has died in East Africa at the age of 76.
EA Stud Book 1954 - Brood Mares - Thoroughbred - Breeders - G. Lindstrom
Chandler - Lindstrom, a former lieutenant in the Swedish army, arrived in Kenya from Sweden in 1920 with his wife Ingrid (née de Mare, born 1890) and four small children. The couple had married in 1911. Ingrid in particular was a close friend of Denys Finch Hatton, who would often invite her to Karen Blixen's house when he expected Karen to be upset over something. Ingrid's presence would act to calm the possessive Karen. The Lindstroms bought a farm called "Sergoita" at Njoro near Lake Nakuru, where they tried to grow flax with little success.
Gillis Lindstrom would sign on at other farms and ranches as a salaried manager for a season or two, particularly in Tanganyika. He also earned extra money by hiring out as a freelance professional hunter.
Markham - a failed flax farm.
Gazette 23 Dec 1958 probate