.
This is to Bonnie who posted on August 17 @ 6:31pm.

I'm not sure if you actually have the correct information on you grandmother.

If your grandmother is Anna Maria Teresia born on 28 June 1905 in Skeby, then she wasn't an only child.

A quick check in the records show that Anna Maria Teresia, daughter of Frans Johansson (b. 9 December 1859) and Kristina Persson (b. 16 October 1866), has at least three ( 3 ) brothers! All born i Skeby and the oldest is born in 1896, less than six months after Frans and Kristina came to Skeby from...North America!

I will show my data base of Emigrants from Falbygden of 31 000 individuals at DIS-Väst autumn meeting number 2 in the library 7th November, time 10-15.

The SwedGen Tour 2009 have started, they touring from WA to MN with start 3th Dec in Worcester, WA. More about the trip at SwedGen Roadtour October 2009.

/Annelie Jonsson
Falköping

Hello: I plan on coming to Sweden next summer. Is it common to let Hotel rooms, or are there motorhomes and campgrounds to stay in? What do you recommend? Thanks.

Hi Bonnie!

I try and help as many as I can.
I do it as a kind of break from researching my own lineage.
I find it soothing and energizing to hel others.

Oh...I can tell you were you great-grandparents were born.

According to the 1900 census Frans Johansson were born in 1859 in Fyrunga Parish.
Kristina Persson were born in 1866 in Rättvik Parish.

He was born as Frantz. His family lived on the grounds of an estate called Bjärtorp. He had quite a few siblings.

These Google maps coordinates will show you the area in which that estate would have been: N 58º 15.981' E 013º 06.731'.

I'm not 100 percent sure on the following information, but I believe that Kristina was actually born Kerstin and later americanized it to Kristina.
I believe this is the fact because I can only find a Kerstin born on that date in Rättvik Parish.
She to had a lot of siblings.

Her family lived in a communty called Söderås.
Google maps coordinates: N 60º 50.710' E 015º 07.585'.

This is mining terratory back in those days.

Hope this helped you some.

.
Bonnie!

I would have chosen hotels if I were the one travelling.
But then again, I am quite lazy and I like my luxuries ;)

Caravaning are quite popular here in Sweden, but I haven't done it since I was very young. But I know that I probably won't do that again ;)

There are quite a few camping grounds all over Sweden if you choose that option.

Bonnie,

If this is your first trip to Sweden or elsewhere in Europe, consider using hotels until you get used to the "cultural" differences between Europe and North America. Vehicles of all kinds are considerably smaller. Once you see the fuel prices and the rural road widths you will understand why. SUVs and minivans are in short supply and are very expensive to rent. Pickup campers and travel trailers are considerably smaller. The huge, multibedroom house on wheels now relatively common in North America is essentially unknown. They just are not practical in Europe and cost several hundred dollars to fill the fuel tank.

Suggestion, decide on the car size that will be comfortable and rent one size smaller. For your first trip, check "Best Western" hotels. Same chain as in USA with lots of locations, similar standards and price levels (relative to Swedish prices.) Then on a future trip, you can consider camping, farm stays, home stays, and the various alternatives for learning more about the culture.

Be sure to use this site and others to locate cousins who are descendents of family members who stayed in Sweden. They may be third or fourth cousins, but some will want to meet their "American" cousins. And allow time to explore Skaraborg history, as that goes back several thousand years.

Matilda Josephina Persson b.7 jun 1880 in Sjogerstad; her Mor was Caisa Lisa Svensdotter, Farmor had a sister Anna b.1873 or 4 who lived in a poor house in Klagstorp., please let me know where I might be able to find some information on Klygstorp

How about a twitter and a blogg about genealogy, I doing both. Just started to twitter. It's more fun that I thought.
The blogg at http://tagesdotter.wordpress.com
The twitter at http://twitter.com/tagesdotter

Any one more here who do the same?

/Annelie

I have been blogging about my genealogy for about 2 ½ years. The reason I do it is for my family to be able to follow my discoveries if they wish.
http://www.tropp.se/sf

Hello from Canada! I don't know how you got my name or this photo? My family on my Swedish side does come from Skaraborg. My grandfather immigrated from that area in 1903. His name was Karl Oskar Larson and my great-grandfather was Lars Stark (formally Detterberg) but got the soldier name. I'm new to sites like this, so please show me the way. Sonja

Your name where on the proposal list I got on from GenealogyWise when I choose to invite more persons to the group. From which part of Skaraborg are your grandfather? I am specially intressted in emigrants from Falköping area.

Skaraborg are one of the groups I have created here, the other is Älvsborg.

If you have ny question to ask about genealogy, please do so in the discussion which "your" parish belong to. This as it shall be easy to find for the members. The comment wall is just for general questions.

/Annelie

My husbands ancestors are mostly all from the Floby area, Skaraborgs, Vastergotland, Sweden. I research several Parishes adjacent - as well as some near Loftahammar, Kalmar Lan.
I have two blogs as follows: The first one listed below often has stories about my Swedish ancestors or research there.

blog: Those Old Memories
blog: You Go Genealogy Girls
twitter: GenGirl2

Good Morning! I was wondering if anyone knows the name of the Parish in Scaraborgs len. I am working on Lars Johan Stark (Detterberg) born 1850 my great grandfather. Is As Socken a parish? sorry for my ignorance. I would like to know about my great grandmother, Batti Josephina Johansdotter, all I have is that she married Lars Johan in 1876. Can anyone help me? Thank you.
Sonja

0Fros Carl Eric Johannsons "Cradled in Sweden", the parish (soken or forsamaling)
county (Lan) Province (Landskap and district (Harad, Tingslag, Bergslad, Skeppslag)

Didn't look at my spelling, bviously

Thank you Judi.....I have tried to get "Cradled in Sweden" several times and they say it is out of print. Is Scaraborg not the county? I'm really getting confused!!
Everyone tells me to find out the parish, but I don't know how to do it.

Skaraborg is the county/lan

T

I just checked amazon.com, they have 8 copies. Try there

Thanks again Judi.....will talk to you soon.
Sonja

Sonja, Yes, Cradled in Sweden is available and excellent, as is Your Swedish Roots. The two "Bibles" for Swedish study. I have a good map of the Skaraborg Parishes, but you still will need to have some knowledge of where in that county they came from or you will be forever looking through records. Email me and I will send you a copy of the map. Cheri Hopkins clchopkins@gmail.com

Your Swedish Roots is the best one to start learning from and takes you through step by step. Cradled in Sweden is more technical but has information that is not readily available elsewhere. I recommend that you splurge and get them both if possible as they work together very well. Each has great learning tools presented.

It can be confusing to do genealogy in Sweden if you don't know the system. Sweden was and is divided in different govern parts, they have changed during the years and the old ones still around.

When it comes to genealogy it's Län which counts. Not the present as some changes were done for some years ago, it's the old ones you shall think about. A Län is about the same as your counties.

Then it comes to the parish. There are several parishes in Skaraborg Län. Here you must know the parish, There is to many to look into. More in explanation about counties in Sweden and which subdivisions there are in Sweden, you can read on http://www.tiny.cc/vTWqp

/Annelie

I have moved the discussion of Lars Johan Stark into the Discussion Forum - Unknown parish.

Hello Cheri....I would love a map of Scaraborg. I tried to e-mail you and it came back to me, don't now why? My e-mail is sonjaj@shaw.ca. Hope to hear from you soon.

You now find Sveriges Släktforskarförbund The Federation of Swedish Genealogical Societies at Facebook.

/Annelie

Thanks Annelie for the facebook tip!

Sonia,
Yes, I see now you really did say the parish name (socken). There is an ÅS parish in Skaraborgs Län (county). Is that the place you mean? Note the spelling--the first letter looks like an a with a circle over it. I learned to call it a Swedish oh... it is a vowel and follows immediately after Z. When you look on lists you have to look near the end of the alphabet! You can find it in the parish list in Cradled in Sweden page 321. Note there are several parishes with the same name. You want the one in Skaraborgs län (county) (dont wory about the s).

I found Ås on my map. The church is almost on the shore of Vättern lake almost about 15km east of Vännersborg. My favorite map book is the M+KAK Bilatlas... essentially the Swedish auto club map book.

Here in Sweden as also in Norway and Denmark we have three more letters then you have. They are Å, Ä and Ö. How we say our alphabet you find at http://swedishalphabet.tripod.com/index.swf among with numbers and colors.

/Annelie

Just updated my Emigrant.se. As before there are list, now updated lists, based on the birth parish, where the emigrants where born in Falköping area. Now I have also included lists based on States, there the emigrants died.
http://www.emigrant.se/en/english.html

/Annelie

Have been busy all year to include more persons in my data base of Emigrants from Falbygden. The number is now up about 38 000 individualls. And on the website Emigrant.se there is an emigrantfamily on display. An example of what I have in the base.

The family start with a Britta Magnusdotter B 1769 in Kinneved parish. You can follow her family from 1715 to almost present time in 4 generations. It start in Sweden and end up in Illinois and Minnesota.

Emigrant.se

 

/Annelie

 

There are registers about emigrants from Sweden, Emiweb.eu is such a site on the net you can search. You have to pay a fee of 500 SEK per year to get access. Otherwise the emigrant registers are just on CD/DVD. The major and most important CD Emibas, is sold out and no reprint are in sight.

I think I'm one of the few in Sweden who make a data base of emigrants and their families.There is one more Anneli who do the same in Dalsland. Why it's so it's that it take so much time and you have to access to the right sources to put together the info to one. I have been working on my data bas in about five years. A lot of work remain. Over 10 000 persons emigrated from Falbygden.

I know about all serche ways in Sweden Annelie, becourse I am Swedish, and I am living in Skaraborgslän.I think you do a grate jobb.Me and my sister now look for our lady in USA, but I must say that Swedish church records are better then US.Census.Do the churches in USA allso have a register on line to serche in ?

It's the SAKA register you ask about? They are not online and maybe never will be.

Kurt Andersson in Skara done extracts from the rolls in Växjö, for Skaraborg. They were at the Skara research library for a long time until a couple of years ago when they decided to use the building for other things such as touristburea and there was no more room for files. Kurt had to relocate them as otherwise they had been burned. The are all now in Hössna at Anna-Lena Hultman's emigrantcentrum Konkordiahuset.

I have family (great-grandparents and siblings) from Lekasa parish in Skaraborg, listed as from Baltorp and from Skattegarden. Are they all in the same area?

Hi Kristen, welcome to the group.

Lekåsa is (was) a parish in Skaraborg just east of highway E20.  My KAK atlas (scale  1:400,000) shows the parish church but not the other place names. A web search of -Baltorp- shows a location just a few km west of the church in a field. Baltorp is likely a farm name. Skattegården is likely also a farm... sound like an institutional farm (translation    tax farm?) Help, Annelie.

If I get to the library, I will check Svensk Ortförteckningen to see what it says about Baltorp. This is a rural area.   If you what to see the church do a search on   the name below with the Swedish characters.  You will see other nearby churches. Have you found your family records?

Lekåsa kyrka.

Thank you, Lynn! I haven't figured out yet how to make the Swedish characters on the web...just in MS Word. Is Lekåsa no longer an active parish?

I do have some records in hand; they are Immigration certificates (Flyttningsbevis) issued by the pastor of Lekåsa parish, so I have birth dates and even one baptism and confirmation date, I think. I am wondering how I can find out more about what other family members there might have been (there is no mention of their parents), or might possibly be now.

Kristen,

Svensk Ortförteckning, 1965 (This a guide

book for Swedish post offices and train

officials. Shows every littl place with

descriptions.)

Both of your place names lie near the

southern edge of Skaraborgs län about 30 km

south east of Trollhättan. This in in the

area at the south end between the two major

lakes in Sweden.

Baltorp   farms and a saw mill in Essunga

kommun near Barne-Åsaka church (looks like a

closer church than Lekåsa. Also Fåglum church

near by).

Skattegården  Around 60 places with this name

in Skaraborgs län (SKBG) alone!!!  The two most

likely per your information.
1   farms in Essunga kommun (4 km to Fåglum).
2   farm in Essunga kommun (near Lekåsa

church).
For reference,kommuns have changed in recent

years... mostly been consolidated. (Kommuns are similar to townships in some states with some local governing power. They have nothing to do with record keeping.) There is

also a village called Essunga with a post office

and train station (1965). Google map and satellite

work well in this area. If you look at the shadows you can identify a church by the tower.

If you have not yet found your needed vital records, you may

have to check Barne-Åsaka church and Fåglum

church as well as Lekåsa church. They are all

close to your spots.

Kristen,

I also have relatives from Lekåsa, Barne-Åsaka and Fåglum so am quite familiar with the communities.  Some of my mother's first cousins, in fact, lived at Baltorp.

 

If you want to share the information you have amassed to date (the birthdates and confirmation date) , I'll see if I can pinpoint the family in the online records available from Genline.  Once you get your foot in the door via the husförhörslängder (household examination rolls), it should be a breeze to extend your research.

The three "extra" Swedish vowels are important because they are distinct letters not just accents. They also sort at the END of the alphabet so if you are looking in a Swedish index they come after Z.

Your Windows will simulate a Swedish keyboard. You can install an additional keyboard thru control panel. I have US English, Swedish and Norwegian keyboards installed and switch between them as needed. You have to know where the letters are located on what keys. I have trouble finding the special characters ( - = + / ?, etc.) so switch back to En. The switch appears on the Windows Tray at the bottom of my screen. Keys are    Å to left of P,   Ö to left of L,  Ä to left of Ö.     If you need only a few letters, copy them from another document.   Also, see language tutorial in the Genealogy Wise group, Swedish Genealogy. (There are other ways to type the Swedish letters as well.)

I do know a man that do reserche on Lekåsa.He had several relatives that moved from Lekåsa to USA.I have been sending him a messege and askt him to join this group.If you all are lucky mabye you all do a reserche in the same family and if not he can tell a lot from his reserches of Lekåsa.Mabye he can tell what farms you are looking for in Lekåsa.I hope that he will join us.

Here are a few names and dates. I realized that the confirmation date I have is from a relative in Norway, so that doesn't apply here.

I think that these are all sisters and brothers, but I am not sure; they all list Åsaka as their birthplace. I do know that Johanna and Anna are sisters (they were my great-grandmother and great-great-aunt). They also had a brother, Swan (Sven) Johnsson, and a sister, Augusta, for whom I do not have birth dates yet. All of the above emigrated to the U.S. and remained here.

Anna Stina Johansdotter, b. 22 January 1850 in Åsaka congregation in Skaraborg

Johnanna Johansdotter, b. 7 July 1855 in Barne Åsaka congregation in Skaraborg

  this is one of the two I'm not sure of:

Anders Petter Johansson, b. 1 April 1846 in Åsaka

Lotta Johansdotter, of Baldorp, Skattegården--buried 5 May 1912

  All except for Lotta (for whom I have only a funeral invitation) had immigration papers from Lekåsa. Anders Petter Johansson's was signed by Sven Sundborg (vice pastor?).

The others were signed by August W, Ternstedt, pastor.

Anna's obituary listed an Andrew Johnson in Sweden as a brother/survivor, so I wonder if it is the same as Anders Petter. He would have been about 100 when she died, so I don't know (she was 96 when she died, and Swan/Sven was 99).

I hope this wasn't too involved!!

To make matters more complicated, I have an immigration document from another person of whom I have never heard, whose paper was in with Anna's, and her certificate was issued the same day from the same parish. I don't know if it was a relative or a friend. There is also a funeral notice (from Sweden) for someone who has the same last name as this woman.

Pigan (Maid) Mathilda Andreasdotter, b. 19 April 1856 in Åsaka congregation of Skaraborg.

Ingrid Andersdotters was buried 14 April 1901 from Baltorp.

 

Hi Kristen,

 

Here's a preliminary report on your family. Most of the following information is from the household examination rolls and should be verified in the original church records.  There were at least eight children in the family:

1.  Anders Petter, born 1 April 1846

2.  Britta Stina, born 31 August 1848

3.  Anna Stina, born 22 January 1850

4.  Svante, born 10 October 1851

5.  Andreas, born 30 May 1853

6.  Johanna, born 5 July 1855

7.  Lotta, born 20 November 1859

8.  Augusta, born 5 February 1862

 

Father:  Johannes Magnusson, born 12 October 1815, baptized 15 October 1815, son of Magnus Svenningsson (born 22 August 1778, died 22 April 1829) and Maja / Maria Jansdotter (born 23 September 1786, died 7 January 1859).  Johannes Magnusson died 24 February 1885.

 

Mother:  Ingrid Andersdotter, born 20 March 1819, baptized 21 March 1819, daughter of Anders Svensson and Annica Andersdotter.

 

More details later.

Thank you SO much! This helps to explain some of the mementos that I have. I look forward to anything else you can find out, and again, Thank you!

I did some additional checking in Genline for the Johannes Magnusson family.  His birthdate and baptismal date were verified in the baptismal register C:4, p. 129.  The birth date and baptismal date for his wife Ingrid Andersdotter were verified in the baptismal register C:4, p. 153.

An internet search for "Johannes Magnusson" Baltorp resulted in an interesting land ownership document for the area.  It lists the years of birth for the children, as well as the years of emigration for some of the children (which you apparently already have).  It is noteworthy that the brother Andreas, born 1853, seems to have taken over the family farm.  The Swedish death index indicates he remained in Sweden and died there.  There is also a listing of the other children from the earlier generation, that is of Magnus Svenningsson and Maria Jonsdotter / Jansdotter.

The father of Magnus Svenningsson was Svenning Heljesson, born in 1730 (the exact birthdate is in the household examination roll but is difficult to decipher).  He died on 19 March 1809 at the age of 79 (household examination roll AI:1 (1808-1814), p. 52.

Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, I checked the records available at ancestry.com before proceeding further.  Bingo!  There are four separate family trees that contain information on your family, one of which is quite complete and nicely sourced.  It was compiled and submitted by another descendant in the family, Jennifer Diane Brink.  You will probably want to check on the information available on ancestry.com and contact her for further leads.  Her research extends back yet another generation, to Helje Andersson, born in 1689.

Let me know if you have questions about any of the above and good luck with your research.   

Thank you SO much--this is wonderful information!

I have one more in Skaraborg (all the rest are from Kalmar, so that will be a challenge), my father's maternal grandfather. I have an immigration certificate that lists him as:

Anders Peter Svensson, from Bragnum Frostag: (?) of Lekåsa Moderförsamling (assembly). The document was entered in Lekåsa of Skaraborg on Oct. 12, 1887.

Anders Peter Svensson was born on  26 May 1856 in Bitterna församling of Skaraborg. As a sad note, he was killed in a mining accident in Rock Springs, WY when my grandmother was about 14 months old.

For all of you who live in America and has swedish ancestors and like to find ou more about them and meet family in Sweden. The Great Swedish Adventure is something for you.

http://www.greatswedishadventure.com/