31-day genealogy challenge - Day 14

First, I was going to write and post this yesterday but I followed the news from the terrible happenings in Norway. First the bombing and then the shootings.  This is not at all a political blog but it is happenings like this that affects so many people and sure put a deep mark into my timeline.

Day 14.

I had a week of "genealogy light" and now Im back into the heavier stuff (can I write like that?). We went to Ängelholm to visit our favorite second-hand bookshop. It was closed, owner on vacation. So, we turned our heads toward the libary, old newspapers on microfilm is never wrong and they have different papers compared to the library i Helsingborg. Well, only to notice they have paper from 1992 on spot, older you need to order. Ok. Looked into the books. Found a great one. Svensk Bebyggelse, Kristianstad Län from 1945. Seems like back in the 1940s it was quite popular to drive through Sweden, taking a picture of every house and every farm, writing a little text about it (when its built, who is the ower, when is the owner born and who are the owner parents). Ive bought a DVD set with a simular booktitle (Svenska Gods och gårdar) but it has mainly farms and not houses in the cities in it.

Its not like you go out and look for a book like that, its hard to look for something you dont know excist. Browsed through it and I found two interesting entries.

First, one in Vinslöv. This is the house of my greatgrandmothers aunts husband sisters. The aunt and husband emigrated to the US, I found thier decendants awhile ago, we keep in touch and Im trying to find out everything I can on the husbands side of the family. They didnt have a clue he had two sisters who stayed in Sweden (nor that the wife had a sister that stayed as well).

Second. My grandfathers brother. He build the house. The book is from 1945 and he died that same year.

Day 14 completed:
 *Found a book at the libray that contained pictures of my relatives houses

31-day genealogy challenge - Day 8 - 13

Been busy days and Ive not been around my computer much. Those are the times when Im happy about all the genealogy possibilities I have on my iPhone. So, even when Ive been busy having friends over for gardenparty and painting the house for days Ive been able to get a small, daily dose of genealogy whenever I had time for a short break.

Day 8.
Not to long ago I found a "new" second cousin of my mom. Cool. One would think we had them all under control but we didnt. I was going through hints on ancestry.com and a family tree with names I knew showed up and one to us unknown aunt of my grandfather. Anyhow, we got in touch and I got some information from her and I spent some time adding it into my genealogy database ( I use Reunion) inbetween cleaning the house, baking this wonderful chocolatefudge cake and spending time in the garden being nice to the potatoes, beans and other vegetables.

Day 9.
Ofcourse I overslept, was thinking Id get up early to bake bread and cinnamon buns. The bread and buns turned out quite good anyway and while they were in the oven I browsed Appstore for family history. Found an ebook called Family History Search - How to find family you never knew you had. Read the first two chapters. No news to me so far, but just having it on my phone to read whenever I have a minute is great. Like when you are waiting for people to arrive to a meeting, avoiding the commercicals on TV or standing in a looooong line at the store.

Day 10.
Love podcasts so day 10 I listend to the Family Tree Magazine podcast episode 37.

Day 11.
When I dont have the time to do any research one of my favorite things to do is checking out different genealogy message boards. One of my favorite, a Swedish one, is proveniens.ifokus.se/. Nice discussions and helpful people. Couple of years ago, at the genealogy conferance that is held once a year, some of us met at a restaurant and had a really nice dinner with a lot of genealogy talk. Its fun meeting people you "know" from the net IRL.
Also watched Who Do You Think You Are, Tim McGraw episode. Compared to the other episodes I think it was a bit boring. Ofcourse it was amazing about the diary but besides from that..

Day 12.
Swedish radio makes an excellent genealogy radio show called Släktband. All episodes are available on-line, streaming in an app or downloadable. Did I already write how much I love to be able to do so much with my phone when not having the time to start up my computer? ;)

Day 13.
So, been painting the house for days and now we are done and it starts to feel like vacation again. Spent a couple of hours doing lookups on my 1880 Swedish Census CD adding the information in Reunion.

There!
Day 8 - 13 completed!

31-day genealogy challenge - Day 7

One week and Ive done at least one genealogy related thing everyday and its been different things everyday. Day 7 I uploaded the findings I did on Sunday to the Fridolf / Liljedahl family group I created on Facebook in 2009. Facebook is such a great place to keep intouch with relatives. When my grandmother Lilly was alive I usually met my cousins, aunts and uncles when it was her birthday and sometimes at Christmas. Her place was the natural meeting place. Now its easy to be friends at Facebook but also easy to create a familygroup. I like to keep groups open, makes it easier to find if someone is looking but it could ofcourse be an invite-only group as well.

So, twenty years later Im meeting with my relatives at Facebook, keeping updated what that are up to, looking at the pics they upload and reading whats going on in thier daily life. And what else, Ive found "new" second cousins though Facebook living in the same town, other living all over Sweden and Australia,  third and four cousins in Canada and USA. Love Facebook for the easy way to keep intouch.

I also got an invite to try out Google+ so I signed up there and are checking it out.

Day 7 completed:
* Uploaded findings to the Fridolf / Liljedahl familygroup at Facebook.

31-day genealogy challenge - Day 6

Day 6. The other day I noticed that my iPhone hadnt syncronised so the newly downloaded genealogy podcasts were only on my computer. I also dicoverd that Ive been behind in listening.. I blame my work, too much to those weeks before the vacation I guess ;).

Anyway, since I have the great Genealogy Gems iphone app I could listen to the latest episode, streaming. Great. Im always amazed about how many conferences and interesting things going on in US when it comes to genealogy. When I started my research a few years ago I became member in five or six genealogy societies. Couple of years later I wasnt a member anywhere and now Ive decided to try them out again. I find it a little sad that often when the different archives arranges some kind of event its in the early afternoons at 3 pm. Whats with that? Ok, enough whining!

So, challenge: I created a family tree at ancestry.com with my findings of Anders Nilsson and the family on the picture from the day before. I was hoping to find some matching trees but no luck.

Anders Nilsson in Bubbarp family tree on ancestry

On the other hand, I found a passengerlist which told me that Bengtas husband Axel Persson went to the US in 1912 to visit a friend. At times I really love those small hint leaves. I had no reason to look for any passengerlists since I already knew that Axel died in Sweden but instead ancestry did it in the background and told me.

Axel Persson on SS Lustiana sailing from Liverpool
April 27 arriving in New York May 2 in 1912

Day 6 completed:
* Started a new family tree at ancestry.com

31-day genealogy challenge - Day 5

Day 5, one of those days

Ok, lets go back a few years when I and my parents went to see my mothers cousin. He had a bunch of photos, letters and all sort of family research goodies. And lots of photos didnt have names on them. Two generations back the people on the pictures were well known but now noone knows.

One picture has really cought my attention. Taken outside in the snow. When I first saw it I got the feeling it was taken in the US, I dont know why. Probably wishing it would be "my emigrants". Few weeks ago I looked closer at it. Especially at the man who holds a newspaper. I noticed it said "Norra" on it. Which would probably be the paper Norra Skåne which is in the area of north east part of Skåne (in the very south of Sweden) where my moms grandparents on her fathers side came from. Fine.

Last week, I was browsing some sites and found a link to a man who has digitalized a bunch of records. I found two of those collections very interesting. I bought them and I started to browse them when they arrived in the mail. Then it suddenly happens. When going though a whole bunch of pictures I recognize the picture that turns up on my screen. That feeling.. a mystery getting so much closer to its solution. You get all focused and feel the butteflies in the stomach. A big grin on your face (only stopped by your ears) and you feel your heart beat. This is the great reward after all those hours looking, looking and looking without a result. This is the reward for being that stubborn person that refuses to give up and quit. This is the reward you will live on for a few weeks and that well keep you going and extra motivated.

So, there it was. My picture. With names next to it. Ok, it was common names. Bengta and Axel Persson. Anders Nilsson (with the newspaper). Nils Persson and Augusta. Nilla with the picture of the husband Nils Nilsson who died in 1896.

Thank you for those clues. Place was Bubbarp (in Skåne, Sweden). And I had a date of death, 1896. Turned my face to ancestry.com and the Swedish Churchbooks on-line. Found the Nils Nilsson I was looking for. There were a couple of them but after looking into the house examine rolls I found the family.

Farstorp AI:9 1870-1878, page 272

I also found out that Nilla was Nils second wife.

Problem solved? Well. I now know who the people on the picture are. I looked into my CDs Swedish deaths 1901 - 2009 and Buried in Sweden to find out more. And it all matched. Augusta was married to Nils Persson and Bengta was married to Axel Persson. 

So, why did my relatives have a picture of this family? None of then are found in my tree (yet..). Bubbarp isnt a huge place so if nothing else, there were neighbours and probably good friends. I added them all in my special familyfile with misc people (here I put up people I research but thats not related) and I made a litte decendant chart. The father and grandfather of Nils I found in the book Gods och Gårdar  (= houses and farms). Nice books and sometimes you find out really nice things like in this case.

Bubbarp 2, the home of Sven Wollmerson, his son Nils Svensson,
his son Nils Nilsson (the person in the frame on the picture above)
and his son Anders Nilsson (the man holding the newspaper).

So, thanks to the archive made by Sigurd Svensson which now is availabe to buy from Tore Månsson that picture that cought my attention a few years ago is not a mystery anymore. And I got that amazing feeling doing the happy dance!

Day 5 completed:

*Identified an old picture and researched the people on it.

31-day genealogy challenge - Day 4

July 11, day 4 of my genealogy challenge.

Spent most of the day yesterday fixing in the garden. So, it was nice relaxing infront of the TV and have the genealogy brought to me without having to do anything. The US episodes of Who Do You Thing You Are are running here in Sweden right Mondays right now. Yesterday was Rosie O'Donnell. I really like the WDYTYA shows. New Swedish episodes are coming this fall.

Day 4 challenge completed:
*Watched an episode of Who Do You Think You Are

31-day genealogy challenge - Day 3

July 10, day 3 of my genealogy challenge.

In 2007 I listend to Thord Bylund when he was visiting Helsingborg and talked about how to find a father when listed as father unknown. It was very interesting and entertaining. Thord is a great storyteller. Enough for me to order the book Thords Tankar (Thoughts of Thord). So yesterday I found a nice place in the shade in the garden and finally started to read the book thats been in my bookshelf for four years. I came about one third into it and Ive read about moving the archives in Stockholm from different places into one spot, a lot about the north of Sweden and interesting facts about regional differences in surnames.

Day 3 challenge completed:
*Reading Thords Tankar.

31-day genealogy challenge - Day 2

Day 2, July 9, of my 31-day genealogy challenge turned out really nice.

I started out listening to the episode #112 of Genealogy Gems podcast with Lisa Louise Cooke. It was about a genealogy kid camp. I wish there had been a genealogy kid camp when I was 10 years old. I remember I was interested back then and perhaps if I had been given a few guidelines I would have written down the stories my grandmother Lilly, grandaunt-and uncle Elsa and Darles and all the other older relatives told me. And asked more! Anyways, if your not already listening to Lisas' show, you need to check it out! Go to iTunes and do a search on Genealogy, it will show up and by now you will have lots of hours of interesting listening to do!

We also did a trip to Höganäs for a visit at Kullabygdens Genealogy Society (Kullabydgdens Släktforskare). They are open during the weekend for the public to come visiting and ask questions.

Open House!

Id been thinking of going to Höganäs anyhow at some point, looking at the cemetery so it fitted real fine. I have line of persons in my tree named Fridolf (from my greatgrandfather and back) and some of them moved to Höganäs. At the society I found some obituarys that they had in thier archive. Nice, right?

Augusta Fridolf, sister of my greatgrandfather Otto Fridolf

Elsy Fridolf, married to the son,
Johan Harald Fridolf of
Augusta and Fritz Leopold Fridolf.
 And its a typo on her birthdate,
she was born on February 11 (11/2 instead of 11/12)

After that, trip to the cemetery which I ofcourse first of all when getting there added to billiongraves.com. Billiongraves is a nice site, quite new, where you can search for headstones and cemetaries uploaded quick and easy with apps for both iPhone and Android. Love it! Stones get geotagged and you see them nicely on a map.

Höganäs Kyrkogård is now found at Billiongraves.com

So. Found the family grave of Gustaf Fridolf. He was my greatgrandfather Ottos uncle.

Gustav Fridolf Familygrave
Buried here are:
Gustav Fridolf
his wife Elinda (or Elida) Jönsson
thier daughter
Hulda Eufrosyne Fridolf

I would say, yesterday was a really nice day and within only a few hours I had a lot of genealogy done.

Day 2 challenge completed:
*Listening to Genealogy Gems podcast hosting Lisa Louise Cooke
*Visiting Kullabygdens Släktforskare and finding my relatives obituarys in thier archive
*Adding Höganäs kyrkogård (cemetery) to Billiongraves.com
*Finding my relatives headstone at Högnäs Kyrkogård (cemetery)

My 31-day genealogy challenge - Day 1

Starting yesterday, Im trying to do a 31-day genealogy challange. For 31 days Im going to try to at least one genealogy / familyhistory reseach releated thing everyday. To make it harder, it has to be something different everyday or else it wouldnt be a challange I think... ;).

Yesterday, Friday 8 of July we were at the library in Helsingborg looking into old papers (Helsingborgs Dagblad) from the end of 1800 and beginning of 1900 about happenings in Kropp. A few weeks ago we looked into the deathbooks of Kropp and found some stuff we wanted to look up. Out of the four we were looking for, we found more information about two. Think that is good.

First one we looked at was about two young women, Elna Kristina Magnusson, 21 year and Klara Sofia Johansson, 24 year who died on the same day and it said accident in the records on the 19th of December in 1888. So, seems like they made up a fire in the tileoven before going to bed and they died due to poisongas coming into the room.

Article about the two young ones who
died in thier sleep.

Second one was a man we think might have lived in our house. His name was Anders Nilsson and it said he died due to crushing his kidney when he fell of a bike. He died on November 6 in 1907. We didnt find any article confirming what was in the records, but we found his obituary.

Anders Nilsson obituary

Day 1 challenge completed:
* Searching for info in old papers about happenings in Kropp