Sweden

Nils Gustaf Daldn was born on November 30, 1869 at Sternstorp in the District of Skaraborg, the third of five brothers and sisters. His parents were the farmer Anders Johansson and his wife Lovisa Dahlen, which latter name all the brothers and sisters adopted. As a child Gustaf Dakn showed a natural gift for mechanics. In view of the natural gifts shown by young Dalen it was decided that he should become a farmer like his father. As a consequence he was sent after his school days to a School of Agriculture, where he studied specially dairy farming.

There is a tiny island, Flatholmen, which lies about a mile off the coast of Jaeren, in Southwest Norway. The nearest harbor is Tananger, and across a peninsula, in the more sheltered water of the fjords, lies the great port of Stavanger. One of many lighthouse islands, Flatholmen shows the safe channel between the mainland and the reefs which lie further west, around the larger island of Rott, bird sanctuary. A lighthouse was first built on Flatholmen in 1862; a boathouse added in 1863, an outbuilding, including a laundry, in 1894.