Researching The In-Laws

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Comment by Vern Taylor on September 11, 2009 at 7:52pm

I found I'm related to my in-laws. My daughter-in-law Jen Moynihan Taylor doesn't have enough lineage for me to find the relationship. Help wanted on any of these at the end of the line:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=ldshistorical&id=I211253

Comment by Judy Week on August 21, 2009 at 7:39am

I started researching my husband's Norwegian & Swedish abt. 5 years ago on a fluke. I was researching my ancestors who were b. in TN & settled in Blue Earth Co., MN. I got bored & started researching Kandiyohi Co., MN where his Norwegian grandparents settled.

It is difficult to research Scandinavian ancestors. The naming traditions for "suranmes" changed over a period of time. They based their surname on the patronymic system. Wikepedia's definition of patronymic: "... is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ... " For example, the son of John became Johnson/Johnsen. John's daughter became Johnsdatter.

Norwegians sometimes used the name of the farmplace where their families lived in Nowary. It can get very confusing when the person you are researching uses the name Johnson one time & later switches to use the name of the farmplace. In addition, sometimes the farmplace name was Americanized.

Another naming tradition that I found confusing was the fact that if a child died, the next child born of the same sex was given the name of the child who died. For instance Arne was b. & d. in 1880. The next male child b. in 1890 would be name Arne.

I would highly recommend the Norway List on Rootsweb.com Mailing List. People on the list are from all over the globe. They are eager to help one another. I found a distant relative of my husband's who lives in Norway.

The Lutheran church in each area kept meticulous records of births, marriages, deaths & departures to other parts of the world. People who immigrated to America & elsewhere communicated with relatives back home. That info was given to the Lutheran church. The information was kept in books at each Lutheran church.

I also hired a researcher who retired from the MN Historical Society & lives in Minneapolis, MN. He was thorough & very professional.

My husband & his siblings are not interested in genealogy. Although, they are interested the in info I shared regarding their Nowegian grandparents. None of their children are interested in genealogy.

My husband's grandfather travled to Norway to visit family in the 1930's. I know there is still family living there. However, I made the decision not to attempt to research in Noway.

One of my husband's grandniece's recently contacted me re their Norwegian ancestors. She can speak Norwegian & has plans to do research in Norway.

I am passing the torch re my husband's Scandinavian ancestors. Hopefully, others in my husband's family will become interested in genealogy.

Judy

Comment by Kathleen Fox Allen on August 20, 2009 at 9:59am

Hello all!

It's great that you added this group! I might be a little different, though - I'm not researching my own in-laws, I'm researching my siblings' in-laws. (I don't have children, but I've got a ton of nieces and nephews and I want them to know where they came from.) Anyone else?

-Kathleen