My Trails into the Past

My husband’s ancestors immigrated to the United States from Sweden. His great-grandfather, Nils Malkom Nilsen, was a minister with the Swedish Mission Church and gave sermons in the Swedish language. It is possible he learned English to conduct business, but his son, Arthur, said when he started school, he only knew Swedish, a clue to the language spoken at home. Because of this, Arthur would not allow his children to learn Swedish. Nils Malkom’s wife, Hulda, died before he did in 1924. Four obituaries have been found for her. English language obituaries were printed in the Stockton Record , Turlock Daily Journal, and the Modesto Bee . Nils Malkom had served in churches in each of those localities. An obituary was also printed in the Swedish-language newspaper Vestkusten . A comparison of the obituaries shows some differences and why it’s important to locate all that may have been printed. "Beloved Woman Passes to Rest. Escalon,” Record (Stockton, Calif) , 17 Nov 1924, p. 8, col....

The Rev. N. M. Nilsen,[1]  pastor of the Swedish Congregational Church in Cromwell, Connecticut, thought the empty house on West Street could be put to better use than sitting empty. The owner, A.N. Pierson, agreed. It was decided to create an orphanage for young orphan children. The matron was Anna Molin, who came from Manchester, New Hampshire. It was first announced in the Middletown newspaper, The Penny Press, on 5 April 1900.[2]  Another article explained its purpose: “The Swedish Christian Orphanage, which is to be established here, under the patronage of the Swedish Congregational church, will be ready by the middle of May. The building acquired for the purpose on West Street, by the association, has been repainted and repapered throughout, and a new wing is to be built, to give more room. Miss Anna Molin of Manchester, N.H., who is to be the matron of the home, has arrived in town, and will spend several weeks here, as the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Nyren. Rev EG Hjerp...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1)  Have you worked on the matrilineal line of your significant other?   Who are the mothers of the mothers of your significant other? Here's mine: My husband’s mother is Thelma Marie Nilsen , born 29 January 1926 in Hilmar, Merced County, California. She died 24 March 2018 in Caldwell, Canyon County, Idaho. Her matrilineal line is: Agnes Hilma Carolina Lundquist , born 16 July 1894 in Stanton, Montgomery County, Iowa. Agnes married Nils Arthur Nathaniel Nilsen on 29 November 1917 in Hilmar, Merced County, California. She died at age 42 on 31 July 1936 in Modesto, Stanislaus County, California. She and Arthur had ten children. Mathilda Lovisa Eriksson , born 21 December 1871 in Tidersrum, Östergötland län, Sweden. She emigrated to the United States in 1888. She married Pehr Alfred Lundquist on 15 M...

In the late 2000s, I approached my husband’s aunt about writing a book about her ancestors, the Nilséns. She supported the idea, supplied funds to research at Ancestry , bought a new scanner and printer, and put up the money for the printing of the books. I ended up writing about the four immigrants who came to the United States and two of their following generations and included a chapter about the two siblings who remained in Sweden. The direct ancestor of his aunt and mother was Nils Malkom Nilsén, the eldest of the children of Jonas Nilsson and Marta Larsdotter. Nils changed the spelling of his surname while in the seminary due to there being too many Nils Nilssons. The children who came to America also used the new spelling while the children who remained kept the surname Nilsson. Nils was a minister in the Swedish Mission Church and served in many locations in the United States. To discover which churches he where served, I had to locate the churches in the various towns and ...

Jonas Nilsson and Marta Larsdotter, residents of Svenshult, Åsenhöga, in Jönköping län, Sweden, had seven children born between 1865 and 1877. One child, Nanny Albertina, did not survive childhood. Four children emigrated to America and two children remained in Sweden. The Emigrants Nils Malkom, Johan Laner, Sven Alfred, and Wilhelmina each traveled to the United States between 1887 and 1890, with Johan arriving first and settling in New Britain, Connecticut. Nils Malkom followed in 1889, settling first in Sheffield, Pennsylvania, where he was pastor for the Mission Covenant Church (now Grace Bible Church). Nils would live in several places where he ministered at churches in Youngstown, Ohio; Cromwell, Connecticut; Harcourt, Iowa; and several communities in California: Hilmar, Escalon, San Pedro, and Santa Cruz. Wilhelmina, arriving in 1889, settled in New Britain near her brother, Johan, who now went by John. Sven Alfred arrived last in 1890 and settled in New Britain near his sib...

Earlier this year, I wrote about my husband's great-uncle, Ernest Ferdinand Nilsen, who was a skilled patternmaker. It can be found here . For this week, I want to describe his military service. When he was eighteen years old, Ernie enrolled at the Navy Recruiting Station in San Francisco on 2 July 1918. He received his training at the Naval Training Camp in San Pedro, California from 16 July to 13 August. He served on board the USS Sequoia from 13 August to 11 November 1918. He was placed on inactive duty on 30 June 1919 at San Francisco. [1] He was discharged on 30 September 1921. [2] He served as a Seaman 2 nd Class. After the service with the U.S. Navy, Ernie met his future wife, Mary McConnell, at the E.W. Reynolds Wholesale Jewelry Company where he worked in the shipping department. She was the head cashier. They married on 10 June 1925. [3] Later Ernie worked as a custom cabinet maker and this led him to enlist again in the U.S. Navy during World War II as a patternm...

From 28 July 1937 to 21 December 1938, Arnold Nilsen served with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), specifically in Yosemite Valley with Camp YNP-6. [1] He worked primarily with a pick and shovel building stone retaining walls. When he joined, he was a month short of his eighteenth birthday. He was probably settled in well, working hard at his camp along with the rest of the crew. On 9 December 1937, it started raining, light at first, but then it poured for two days. The valley received over eleven inches of rain, causing the Merced River to flood. The flood damaged roads, bridges, and buildings. Arnold’s CCC camp was evacuated and the camp lost twelve buildings. [2] The rain was not only in Yosemite but the whole state. The Red Cross worked hard to help efforts in Downieville, Yuba City, Marysville, Colusa, and other places. They sent an airplane to drop food and medical supplies to the 150 members of the CCC who were evacuated to El Portal, at the entrance to Yosemite. [3]...

The Nilsen family of Hilmar, California, have had yearly reunions for many years. I am not sure of the date of the first of the yearly picnics, but they started probably in the 1950s or 60s. The Nilsen Family historian has a photo album depicting most of the reunions. The reunions likely started with the grandchildren generation of the Nilsen ancestor, Rev. Nils Malkom Nilsen, who had settled in Hilmar in 1905. Besides farming, he was the pastor of the Swedish Mission Church in Hilmar. Nils Malkom and his wife, Hulda, had six children. Four of them continued living in Northern California and two lived in Southern California, having turned adult while Nils Malkom was serving as pastor at a church in San Pedro. In the beginning, the reunions alternated between a location in Northern California and a location in Southern California. However, in the last twenty years, the reunions have been held in Northern California locations, as the majority who attend live up north. The picnics...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's  Saturday Night  again - time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1) Which of your ancestors was the LAST immigrant to your current country?  When did they arrive?  Where did they arrive?  Why did they migrate?    Here’s mine: The last ancestor of mine to arrive in the United States would be my paternal great-grandmother, Anna Maria Gleeson , who came to the United States perhaps in 1879 from Canada with her parents, John Gleeson and Margaret Tierney, and her nine siblings. They settled in Dakota Territory in Davison County. Now, where they came in is a mystery. Four of the family filed Intent to Naturalize and gave conflicting dates and places of immigration. Name Immigration  Date Immigration  Place Date of  Intent Age at  immigration Age at  1 st paper ...

Last week, I wrote about Ernie Nilsen and his occupation about being a carpenter and patternmaker. This week is a story of a vacation to Yosemite in California. Ernie Nilsen and his wife, Mary, had no children. Because of this, they spent time with their nieces and nephews. In 1940, they took his brother, Arthur, Arthur’s wife, Lena, and Arthur’s daughters, Thelma and Bernice, on a fishing and camping trip. I have a collection of photos from this trip and on the back of two of the photos, Thelma wrote about the trip. "These were taken on a camping trip in 1940 with Aunt Mary and Uncle Ernie, Dad, Lena & Bernice. We started at Huntington Lake, but the lake was too windy for good fishing. They hiked up high in the mountains and got some golden trout." Later, they went to Bass Lake but stayed only one night. "The outhouses were so disgusting, I think Lena and Aunt Mary put their foot down, so we moved up to Yosemite for a week. Uncle Ernie took many pictures....