Question for Swedish researchers. When a person born in Sweden has their Swedish name, then immigrated to the US and use variations of the Swedish name such as "Nilsson to Nelson" where does that change show up? On immigration papers? Would it show their birth name and their new name?

Also - my gr grandfather immigrated in 1890 with his wife a small daughter, right before Ellis Island. I have not been able to find records that immigration. Larry and Leif - you have looked up a couple of things for me already. Would he have been under Swedish name "Ola Nilsson" or US name Ole B. Nelson? I have tried Castle gardens and come up with nothing. Perhaps they did not even to go New York. They would have immigrated to Emmetsburg, Iowa. (Palo Alto County). Any suggestions or answers?

Thanks a lot.

Mary

I've only found the immigration records for one family of Swedish ancestors, and they arrived in New York (but didn't stay there). But two families of Norwegian ancestors who ended up in Minnesota initially arrived in Quebec, Canada. Although they weren't Swedish, they were still Scandinavian, and Iowa is next to Minnesota, so maybe that is a possibility.

Mary: Immigration into the U.S. can be very difficult to find when prior to 1892 and Ellis Island. Beth is quite correct when she states that many came into U.S. after first going to Canada. Others came in through the Great Lakes and went to the state they lived in. Castle Garden Records have not been completely indexed as yet. The only Nilson, Nelson I found in Palo Alto was not your family. Can't explain why. If they settled there around 1890, they should be there on 1900 census. The spelling change you refer to could have been done by the family itself and no government agency. Some just got tired of constantly having to spell their name the Swedish way and just went along with what the American spelling was. Good example is the "sen" on many Danish and Norwegian surnames gets changed to "son" just because it was Americanized. Best papers you should try to get would be the Declaration of Intent to become American Citizen. Often they show the name of the ship, date of arrival, place of arrival, etc. The Declaration is the FIRST papers filed when they intended to become U.S. citizen.

Mary,
When you start talking about American name changes, do not make any assumptions. I would say the majority did what ever they wanted with no legal process involved. Many did change name or spelling on the boat or the dock. This means the manifest may show their Swedish name but the first records in the US show the Americanized name.

There are some common changes which would be a placed to start like Nilsson to Nelson and Bengtsson to Benson or Lundgren to Londgreen. But I have a friend Leonard Smith, as Swedish as can be, but his grandfather (or was it father) decided Smith was more American than Andersson in Iowa! Americanized names keep genealogists awake at night. Sometimes they did it to simply fix the spelling but sometimes thay just wanted a change... to something Swedish/American or something totally different. I have a relative Johnnesson came to Minnesota and simply spelled the name Johnson but the son picked the last name Skarp (made up from Skarpåsen, the locallity the family came from a generation earlier).

If you have some specific names, do post them and members can speculate some name mappings to TRY. Getting across the Atlantic is the biggest challenge. If you have a parish in Sweden you have the best link. If you have multiple immigrants, you can sometimes get a few clues here and few there.

I am researching Ollie Berntsson born about 1900 in Sweden. He travelled to Australia as a crewman on one of the last of the Windjamber Sailing Ships that arrived in Sydney Harbour about 1920 where he jumped ship and later became an Australian citizen

I recomend this site Cimorelli Immigration Manifesto for looking up ship information, possibly passenger lists and schedules. Some of the links or searches may not work.
I ran into the name change problem with my uncles. Both Changed their names from Olsson to Nisser. Their names were Niss Per Olsson and Niss Viktor Olsson, The sisters kept Olsson but dropped an s in the spelling. Their father was Niss Olof Matsson, Son of Nissanas Mats Olsson and the mother was Tjäder Kerstin Andersdotter, daughter of Tjäder Anders Olsson. You can see how the names worked up through the generations. The other problems I found is the brothers and sisters when they died listed on the death certificate the mothers maiden name as either Tjäder or Andersdotter. One of the the girls, my Grandmother also has records of her using the last name of Mattson as well as Olsson.

Many thanks Jim

Keep in mind that many immigrants changed their name more than once or may have used different variations. My great-great grandmother was born Inga Maja Jonsdotter. She switched her first and middle names, at one time used her grandfather's surname (Erickson), then, after marrying, used Nilsson. The entire family changed the name to Bunstrum (her husband's mother's maiden name), then Nelson, then, finally Bonstrom. It's listed in all of these names on various documents (birth records, marriage license, church records, census & death certificate.)

Hello Jim Erickson, I have a question, please contact me off line by emailing
maxwell1 at bigpond dot net dot au
Note I have altered my email address to defeat the spammers

I have a problem with my Swedish research. My great great grandparents came to America in the 1850's. They arrived in Boston and traveled to meet up with family in Illinois. The husband's name was Olaf Johnson. My family members and I can not find a trace of them before they came to the US. We think they came from Stockholm but not sure. We really need some direction. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them.

Laura, It is very difficult to find someone in Sweden if you only have the name, especially a common name. It would much easier if you could find more information. Do you have a date of birth? Have you looked at the following records to see if they indicate a specific Swedish origin - naturalization records, birth records of children, census records, local church records, death certificate, probate records? How about the information on the relatives he came to meet? They are most likely from the same area or close to it. Where were most of the Swedish immigrants in that area of Illinois from? Sometimes they immigrated from close geographical areas. Where were most of the Swedish immigrants in the local church from? If you check all of this information, you may find a link to a specific area in Sweden.

i grew up in the quad cities. it was a community that bordered the mississippi river that part was in illinois and part in iowa. there was a big community of swedish people who came to the area. the cities were rock island,illinois and moline,illinois. there is a college that is called augustana college that in 1981 swedish america received its first full-time research center and it is located there. known as swenson immigration center. i got this information in a booklet i was sent. ive had it for years but never did anything with it. its called tracing your swedish ancestry by nils william olsson

i also remember when i lived in illinois there was a place called bishop hill,illinois. it was founded in 1846 by erik jansson with trustees who took over after he passed away who were olof johnson and jonas olsson. i found some interesting things about it on wikipedia.

living in the quad-cities i remember growing up they said a lot of immigrants came to rock island and moline because of the railroad and john deere. there is a swedish luthern church in moline,illinois.

i found out there are 3 swedish churches that are in moline,illinois. swedish methodist episcopal, 1st swedish baptist church,swedish evangelical lutheran. hope this helps someone

Let me just add one more question: do you know more about the emigration, date, ship or port they entered the new country?

Thank you so much for the info. I have many of the records and birth and death records of family members however there is no indication of where the family originated except Stockholm. Which seems to be speculation by family members. I really think there may have been a name change as the wife was called Julia and Gunda. They resided near Talon, Il and later moved to Iowa.
This is the family I grew up in and I can't believe I can't find something!

Thanks

there were lutheran churches built in 1841 in andover,galesburg,princeton, and MOLINE. they are all close cities.

If Olaf Johnson was involved with bishop hill movement, maybe Bishop Hill-Socity can help you.
http://home.swipnet.se/bishophill/indexeng.htm

Laura ~ Do you have a date of birth or death? Names of children? I cannot find Talon IL, but I found a Toulon in Stark County IL. Is that where they went? If he is the Olof Johnson associated with Bishop Hill, then there is quite an interesting story attached to it. The Bishop Hill Johnson collected a great deal of money in Sweden and brought it to IL to benefit Bishop Hill, but there were many controversies. If you give us more information, we will be better able to help you.

Hi all. I'm searching for record of an ancestor who has troubled me for some time. His name was John SMITH (I probably couldn't have picked a more difficult name had I tried!). He was born in about 1846 in Stockholm, to parents Edwin SMITH & Louisa JOHNSON. John SMITH died in 1928 in Walgett, NSW, Australia.

Any help in knocking down this wall would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
John

Hello everyone. I've just joined GenealogyWise (8/10/09). I am trying to locate names & information on my father's family & ancestors. In Sweden, my father's name was Per Hilding Persson (b. 1902); he emigrated to the U.S. in 1921, where his name was "Americanized" to Peter Hilding Pearson. A suggestion was made to me to search Genline.com, the Swedish Genealogy Search site. Through a short subscription (reasonable), I located the birth records of my father, his five siblings, my grandparents, and the marriage record of my grandparents. Because Genline has not yet filmed documentation for my father's parish (Filipstad) going back any further nor more forward than 1920, I am at a brick wall. I would be interested in records forward of 1920 because some of my uncles remained in Sweden and also to find the death records for my grandparents. Also, my father listed HOLMBERGET as his home village in Sweden on the Ship's manifest/entry paperwork. I cannot locate this town on any maps of Sweden. This is my first question: Where exactly IS Holmberget? My other question is: Can anyone advise where else I might try to locate Swedish records online which cover Filipstad parish before about 1847 and after 1920 also? Every time I find a new bit of information, I am elated. Thank you, all, for any advice or assistance.

And I almost forgot: I had tried to locate specific Household Examination records (the Swedish version of a census, I presume) for my grandparents' household, but it is very confusing how to sift through them (unsure how they're organized) or if Filipstad, Varmland, was even available via Genline.com. Has anyone had any experience finding information via the Swedish Household Examination records?

Hello Sue

Finding records after 1920 is not always easy. They might not be online yet. I have not had time to check your area, but there are two other possibilities, ArkivDigital and SVAR. The first is a firm entering information like Genline the second is the state archive.

I looked sat Holmberget here: www.eniro.se insert the place name in the box "var". The result is 11 different locations, so maybe you know a little bit more and can pick your rigt Holmberget.

Hello Sue

The Sweeds have their Houshold Examination Protocols and that will give you lots of interesting information.

Censuses as you have in the US and we in Norway are not used very much in Sweden.

Go here: http://www.genealogi.se/roots/ and look for more information on Sewdish Genealogy.

Hi Sue!

Due to privacy laws here in Sweden, information and databases concerning now living persons and information younger than 70 and some odd years, are not allowed to be publiced online.
That information however can be accessed through other avenues.

I have acces to the Household Axamination Protocols for Filipstad all the way back to 1743.

I can also check the death records for people who has died between 1947-2006.

If you could send the information you gave about your family, I could do a quick check in the records I have available to me.

Also sending this as a private message to you Sue!

Cheers
Richard

Hi John Patten!

Well, the name John Smith isn't all that common here in Sweden.
The problem though in your case is that Stockholm is a nightmare to check.

You really need the correct parish within Stockholm the even begin to think about checking his life.

Do you have ANY information about when or exactly where in Stockholm your ancestor was born?

Cheers
Richard

Hi Richard,

Thanks for taking interest. Sadly, no I don't know anything about John's life in Stockholm. I haven't yet been able to even determine when he came to Australia, and if it was with his parents, or if they were left behind in Sweden. Beyond his father Edwin Smith's occupation (a clerk) and John's (carpenter) their lives are a total mystery to me.

Hi again John!

Do you know roughly when he came to Australia?
And do you know if he left directly for Australia from Sweden?

Richard, the approximate date of birth I have for John Smith is around 1846. The first record I have of him is marrying in November 1874 on the gold fields of Victoria, and then 1876 when his first child was born. So there's quite a gap between records. I've checked the UK for potential mentions in the census, but until I find his shipping record among the many John Smiths and J Smiths, I'll struggle to narrow it down. Even looking for naturalization records, I found a number of Swedish John Smith's and none of the certificate images seemed to be the right man.

John, I will during the next few days see if I find any Smith born in and around 1846 in Stockholm.
But I don't hold high hopes. Tens of thousands of children were born in Stockholm that year and around that year.

The only Holmberget I found is an actual mountain ("berg" actually means mountain) in a remote part of Kopparbergs Län about 60 km due north of the city of Borlänge and some 150 km north and east from Filipstad. (Reserchers in Sweden abbreviate Kopparbergs lan as W)
My source was KAK bil atlas.... a very good map book put out by the Swedish auto club.

Holmberget may be a farm name. Do you have a parish or any other bigger place name? There could be a number of farms in Sweden called Holmberget. What is it close to?

Richard, thankyou. I don't doubt that it's a task similar to searching for a needle in a moderately maintained haystack. Regardless of what turns up, or doesn't, the effort is much appreciated!

Cheers,
John

I have found the place you were asking for. Or so I believe.

You are looking for a place called Holmberget here in Sweden.

About 125 km north-east of Filipstad there is an actual mountain called Holmberget.

The reason as to why I think this is the place you are looking for, is that it is associated with mining. There was a metalworks at Holmberget. Copper i think.

Your information you gave in your initial post gave me a name and a place for your fathers birth. Through this I could get his parents name.

I then searched a burial database and found a possible buril of you grandfather. In this record it states that your grandfather worked as a blacksmith.

So this is who I linked the Holmberget I found with your family.

Here is the link to the map.

It didn't allow me to post a link.

Here it is i plain text. Just copy and paste.

http://kartor.eniro.se/query?mop=aq&mapstate=5%3B12.89358%3B60.69079%3Bs%3B12.80906%3B60.73400%3B12.97810%3B60.64758%3B880%3B849%3B0%3B1&mapcomp=%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B0%3B0%3B%3B%3B%3B0&what=map_adr

Latitude: N 60º 41' 16.80"
Longitude: E 012º 53' 16.80"

John!

With your permisson, I would like to get help from two different board or forums here in Sweden specializing on genealogy.

The members on those two sites have been able to find persons with less information before.

Is it ok if I brought this matter to their attention?

Richard, by all means feel free to ask them. I'm open to any help offered. Thanks!

Hi Sue!

I believe this is your father:

Per Hilding Persson
b. 8 feb 1902 Filipstad, Värmlands län (S)

If so, here is what I found out in about an hour:

Paternal Line:

Father:
Erik Johan Persson
b. 1 aug 1867 Nordmark, Värmlands län (S)
d. Possibly 1930 Filipstad, Värmlands län (S)

Paternal Grandfather:
Per Andersson
b. 28 jan or feb 1841 Gustav Adolf, Värmlands län (S)

Paternal Great Grandfather:
Anders Persson

I lost Per Hilding Perssons paternal line at this point.

This is because a Household Examination Record between 1830-1835 for Gustav Adolf, Värmlands län (S), has been lost.

You can probably backtrace from the birth of your grandfather, Erik Johan Persson, to the point where you find Per Andersson living with his parents again.

Just wanted you to get a start on this line.


Maternal Line:

Mother:
Hilma Charlotta Kullin
b. 9 jul 1867 Färnebo, Värmlands län (S)

Maternal Grandfather:
Anders Jansson Kullin
b. 15 jan 1827 Färnebo, Värmlands län (S)

Anders Jansson Kullin’s Father:
Jan Jansson
b. 24 May 1793 Nordmark, Värmlands län (S)

Anders Jansson Kullin’s Paternal Grandfather:
Jan Jansson
b. 1756

And this is where I lost this line for now. No birth parish was mentioned for the last Jan Jansson, but the same applies to this line. Backtrace them all.

All this information is to be considered Uncertain and Unchecked.
In NO way should you take my word on that this is 100 percent coorrect. Always, always check and doublecheck information gathered and recieved from other persons.

This information had been collected in under an hour and no backtracing nor any dublechecking has been performed.

I do however feel that this is correct, but I urge you to check my information.

John!

I have people working on the case right now.

You don't know his exact brithdate?
That is not included in his obituary?

Any other information you have about him? Any brothers or sisters?
Grandparents names?

Holmberget
The Holmberget Richard found is in Värmlands län (S) near Klar älven (a significant river) and not far from the Norwegian border. It looks like the nearest parish church would be Dalby (in Värmlands län note there are two other Dalby parishes in Sweden)

Richard,

John Smith lived the majority of his life in a small town towards the outback of NSW called Walgett. There didn't appear to be any other Smith relatives in the area, and so far I've yet to locate an obituary. I've come across a record or two in time and these seem to point to the possibility that his middle name was Henry, but I haven't been able to verify this as being the right man, only that it seems a likely fit.

Debbie: Sherry did a great job! I love the Swedish flag and of course the dala horse. Reminds me of the many times my mom and sisters an I went to the Scandanavian festival in Junction City, Oregon. We always migrated to the Swedish things. They had a huge dala horse there.

Just wondering if any of you use the Genline Family Finder? I've found alot of information from it, but could use help translating some descriptions. Thanks

Hi Jiliane, I use Genline, maybe I can help you

I also have Genline and have used it for about 4 years. Would be able to assist if needed.

Hello,
An ancestor came from an area called Bjorkryd, north of Haradsback in Kronobergs Lan. It was my great, great grandfather whose name was Johannes Johannson. Birthdate: 12 Nov 1825; Death 22 Jan 1892 in Lake Sarah Township Minnesota.

I would like to find out more about his family, wife, children etc.

One of his sons, my great grandfather was Sven Johannesson. Born in Sweden 22 Jul 1855. He was married in Harlunda to Caroline Svensdotter (form Husjonas), born 16 Jan 1856. They changed their name to Bjorkman after moving to the US. Presumably the name came from the area that they were from.

Thank you for any help.
Bob

Hello Robert!

Since I am suffering from Insomnia, I took upon myself to try help you.
After two hours of checking the parish records in Härlunda and Virestad parishes I found some information for you.
But as always, you should NOT take for granted to my information is correct.
I have done all I can and I am about 99,9 percent certain that my information is correct.

Johannes Johansson
b. 17 Nov 1825 Härlunda Parish

Johannes Father:
Johan Svensson
b. 1793

Johannes Mother:
Kjerstin Bengtsdotter
b. 23 Mar 1794

Their homestead at the time of Johannes birth was Verahult backstuga.



Johannes was married to:

Maria Larsdotter
b. 25 Jun 1817 Probably born in Härlunda Parish
d. 19 Apr 1875 Härlunda Parish
Interred 25 Apr 1875 Härlunda Parish


They hade the following children:

Jonas
b. 22 May 1849 Härlunda Parish

Johannes
b. 15 Sep 1852 Härlunda Parish

Sven
b. 22 Jul 1855 Härlunda Parish


Sven was married to Carolina Svensdotter on 15 Nov 1879 in Härlunda Parish

They had the following child in Sweden before moving to America:

Hilding Mauritz
b. 20 sep 1881 Härlunda Parish
Baptised: 25 sep 1881 Härlunda Parish


Johannes was married a second time on 15 nov 1878.

Second wife:
The divorced Bengta Olsdotter
b. 22 Feb 1839

They had the following child before moving to America:

Anna Maria
b. 20 Apr 1879 Härlunda Parish


Bengta had the following children from a previous marriage:

Mathilda
b. 13 Jan 1861 Probably Härlunda Parish
Baptised: 20 Jan 1861 Probably Härlunda Parish
d. 16 Apr 1887 Härlunda Parish

Emma
b. 13 Jul 1862 Härlunda Parish

Gustaf
b. 21 Jan 1865 Härlunda Parish

Jöns
b. 20 Feb 1868 Härlunda Parish


Mathilda gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock:

Emma
b. 2 Mar 1887 Härlunda Parish


Sven, Carolina and their child disappeared from the Parish records in 1891.
Johannes, Bengta, Jöns, Anna Maria and Emma (Mathildas daughter born out of wedlock and now orphaned)
disappeared from the Parish records in 1891.
This is probably when they emigrated to America.

Richard,
You are very kind to have spent your time looking for this information. I appreciate it very much! Were you able to do this searching on the internet?
Bob

Hi again Robert!

After being able to sleep for about three hours I am yet again awake and ready for another day.

In a way you can say I was able to do this search on the Internet.

I am currently subscribing to two different services who is filming and photographing the parish records. Their intention is that you should be able to do all your research on your computer via the Internet.

The services are from two companies called Genline and Arkiv Digital.
You can find information about them on the following sites:

http://www.genline.com/gff/
http://www.genline.com/#

and

http://www.arkivdigital.se/produkter/adonline

The last site is unfortunately only in Swedish, but their product is that they are photographing the parish records in colour. This I find makes it sometimes easier to read.

I have also found out that the best thing is to have a subscription to both services at the same time. Because they complement each other.

There is also a site called:

http://www.svar.ra.se/

This is a department of the Swedish National Archives. They also have a service you can subscribe to.
This make it possible to serach online in for example the national censuses for 1880, 1890 and 1900.
But they have other databases to search as well.

If you find that you need more help just send me message. I am more that willing to help if I can.

Hello Richard!
How far back to church records typically go in Sweden? Were there other records prior to the church?
thanks,
Bob