In following voyages Matts Widman was the deck boss (båtsman) of the ship. To be the deck boss of a ship is an important and responsible position. As a senior seaman he controls the work of other seamen. He is in charge of a ships rigging, boats, anchors etc.

From the log:
Matts Widman was deck boss on the ship Weritas with Captain H. Roos from 27 August 1877. From Jakobstad to the North Sea and beyond. He disembarked on 31 May 1878.
Matts Widman was deck boss on the ship Weritas with Captain H. Roos from 12 June 1878. From Jakobstad to the "West Sea" and beyond. He disembarked on 9 June 1879.
Matts Widman was deck boss on the ship Alerte with Captain F. Lenander from 29 September 1879. From Jakobstad to the North Sea and beyond. He disembarked on 30 May 1880.
Matts Widman was deck boss on the ship Alerte with Captain A Laurell from 21 June 1880. From Jakobstad to the North Sea. He disembarked on 30 August 1880.
Matts Widman was deck boss on the ship Europa with Captain F. Peterson from 6 September 1880 and died on the trip. (Pictures of the ships from the picture archive in the Jakobstad museum.)

Photo: Matts Widman's widow Sofia with the children, Ellen (1871-1960) and Hanna (1869-1956), and one of the Chinese boxes.

In 1892, the sailor's widow Sofia Widman was still registered as owner of the property #103, together with the younger daughter, Ellen Sofia Widman. The following year, the property changed owner to the cobbler Anders Englund, who moved in with his wife Henrietta and five children. Sofia and Ellen bought the lot #117 on Hamngatan street together, where they moved to. Sofia died 15 April 1923 and daughter Ellen died 8 September 1960.
Ellen was a factory worker at Strengberg Tobacco Factory. When Strengbergs opened a branch in Härnösand in Sweden, Ellen went there for a few years. She remained unmarried and childless.
Johanna (Hanna) became the first link between the little red house and the yellow house. She moved across the street to become the wife of master painter Hans Westerholm's son Karl Gustaf Westerholm. They married 21 December 1890 and had five children: Elvi (1891-1918), Gösta (1893-1975), Thor (1896-1967), Rachel (1902-1975), and my mother Irma (1906-1981).