My Trails into the Past

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...

This is my third year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. Multiple members of the same family left Sweden for America. Jonas Nilsson and Marta Larsdotter of Åsenhöga, Jönköping län, Sweden had seven children, six who lived to adulthood. [1] The farms in Sweden were getting too small to subdivide and only one child could then inherit the property. So, one inherited, one married a Swedish man, and four emigrated to the United States in the 1880s. Household Examination for Jonas Nilsson's family The family in the United States spelled their name as Nilsén, (pronounced neel-sane). Later the accent was dropped and the pronunciation morphed to “neel-son.” The first child to emigrate was Johan Laner . He left Sweden and arrived on 2 May 1887. [2] He liv...

I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge (April 2016) , where we write 26 blog posts featuring each letter of the alphabet. E is for Eliasson Back in the day in Sweden, the patrionymic naming system was used. If a man named Jonas Nilsson had children, the boys would take as their surname Jonasson and the girls would take Jonasdotter. This would make each generation having different surnames from the previous generation. It is very hard to keep track of these families. Just because two people had the name Jonasson didn’t mean they were related. Our story begins with my daughters’ fourth great grandparents, Elias Pehrsson and Kjerstin “Chersti” Ericsdotter. They lived in Grolanda, Skaraborgs län in Sweden. Elias was born 10 February 1776 [1] and his wife, Chersti was born 25 March 1792. [2]   Their farm was located in Grolanda, Sweden, right in the middle of the red circle. They married 17 March 1815 [3] and had seven children, five of whom...

On 13 November 1863 in Tidersrum, Ostergotland, Sweden, Carl Johan Ericksson and Stina Maja Samuelsdotter were married. [1] Tidersrum, Östergötland,  1863, pg 29, no. 5, Erickson-Samuelsdotter They were my daughters’ paternal third great-grandparents. Their daughter, Mathilda Lovisa Eriksson-Holm immigrated to the United States and married Pehr Alfred Andersson Lundquist. Carl Johan was the son of Eric Svensson and Christina Carlsdotter, [2] and Stina Maja was the daughter of Samuel Persson and Maja Stina Jonasdotter. [3] Carl Johan was a tailor [skräddare] and he and Stina Maja had 9 children. Three known children immigrated to America: Matilda Lovisa, Carolina, and Axel Fredrick. Household Examination, AI-13 1866-1870," Karl Johan Eriksson, Bjerkefall, p 2 Here is a household examination in about 1866. They were living in Bjerkefall. This record shows Carl and Stina with their first two daughters, one of whom had died the previous year. This record g...

This is week 8 of the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge” by Amy Crow from  No Story Too Small . Hulda Charlotte Anderson-Carlson was the second wife to Nils Malkom Nilsen, but the great-grandmother to my husband. They were married on 20 May 1893 in Youngstown, Ohio, just over a week after her arrival to America. [1] Marriage Records of Nils Malkom Nilsen & Hulda C. Carlson in Youngstown, Ohio, 1893 Hulda was born 14 Aug 1868 in Rappestad, Östergötland, Sweden to Anders Peter Johansson and Anna Larsdotter. [2] She was the second oldest child of six. Her parents were married in 1865 in Rappestad but neither had been born in this community.   So the first part of her surname came from her father, Anders, making her an Andersdotter. When she was 14, her father died and she lived with the Carlson family and took on their name. It is unclear how Nils Malkom met Hulda, but after the death of his first wife, he asked permission of the church where he served as P...