Friday’s Faces from the Past - Farstorp

Photo from 1909. The churches in the picture are Farstorp and Hästveda. My greatgrandfather Nils Anton Berlin was born and lived in Farstrop so when I found this photo I happily bought it, he was probably familiar with one or two of those priests.

Names in the picture. Herslow, Herrlin, Person, Lafvesson, Billing, Haslov, Rosenberg,
Ström, Helmers, Andersson, Theding. Löfström, Alf, Fokman, Pire

Wordless Wednesday - Olov Hansson

Photo from an album I bought at a fleemarket a couple of years ago. Next to the photo it is written Olov Hansson. Photo is taken in Malmö, Sweden at Atelier Favorit.

Olov Hansson

Surname Saturday - Tedder

Marie Tedder was my second great grandmother. I have mentioned her when writing about my second great grandfather Nikolai Seck.

Marie or Marri was born September 4 in 1840. In her birth record I am able to read that her fathers name is Jürri Tedder. It says she is born in Woroküll which is the German name for Vooru in Estonia.

To look at this at Saaga, the link is http://www.ra.ee/dgs/_purl.php?shc=EAA.1288.1.33:19
 It is free but you need to register an account.

I am not able to read the name of the mother, I think it looks like Kert? And then it looks like Jaan Tedder, ? Arraz and Lüs Tedder who I guess are the sponsors at her christening.

At the age of 22, February 23 1869, she married my second great grandfather Nikolai Seck. In the marriage record that is written in Russian she is called Mari Yurieva Tedder.

I got help with the translation since I don't know Russian ( thanks! :) ) . Well, I did take ten classes a couple of years ago so I am a bit familiar with printed letters. Now I am working on the handwriting. If it is a beautiful handwriting as the marriage record above I can understand a couple of letters here and there but that is about it.

Nikolai and Marie had seven children:

August Seck 1869 - 1872
Therese Emile Marie Seck  1872 - 1868
Ida Seck 1874 - 1946
August Ludwig Seck 1877 - 1925
Johann Karl Edmund Seck 1879 - 1923
Alice Charlotte Seck 1883 - 1922
Nikokai Edvard Seck 1885 - 1948

So, I am working on and looking for information on the parents of Marie, Jürri / Yuri Tedder and Kert?, if she had any siblings and other relatives, cousins, aunts, uncles and so on. My guess is that Jaan Tedder and Lüs Tedder are related in someway. According to information I got from other relatives, Marie died 1912 in Tallinn, Estonia.

Finally, a picture of my second great grandmother:

Friday Funny - Swedish Midsummer

Today is Midsummer Eve, one of the most celebrated days in Sweden. This is the day when we rise a pole, decorated with flowers and then we dance around it. We eat herring, potatoes, sour cream and chives. For desert, strawberries. We drink beer and lots of snaps. We sing a song before every snaps... lots of singing. If you go to a place where there is an traditional celebration you will see people dressed up in folkcostumes. You will hear typical Swedish music and see people dance folkdance. What will you do for midsummer or how was your midsummer will be a good talking topic upcoming weeks.

You will see girls of all ages having a garland made of flowers on thier head. Late at night you will see girls picking seven different flowers in silence to put under thier pillow. In thier dreams they will see their  furture husband.

This photo is from 1909. I dont know who are in the picture but probably some relatives.

Today, in Sweden it is truly a funny Friday. I found a video at youtube, Swedish Midsummer for Dummies that explains a lot as well. There are lots more Swedish midsummer-movies to be found on youtube.

Happy Midsummer or as we would say in Sweden: Glad Midsommar!!!

Wordless Wednesday - Unknown Nilson / Olson

I bought an old photo album in 2009. I don't know the persons in the album and they are not identified. Most photos are from the photographers in the southern part of Sweden like Landskrona and Helsingborg. The album is not in great shape and I am not sure if it is the original photos or someone just took an album and put random photos in it.

Anyway, there is a photo taken at Geo F Riel at 339 W Madison Street in Chicago.

On the back it is written

Kusin

N P Nilson

Minne från P Olson.

Translated:

Cousin

N P Nilson

Memory from P Olson.

Military Monday - Karl Spangenberg, 1928 - 1944, age 15

At Pålsjö Cemetery in Helsingborg, Sweden there is a area where soldiers from the WW are buried. There is one part where German soldiers are buried. Among the headstones Karl Spangenberg is found. He was born in 1928 and died only a couple of weeks before turning sixteen in 1944. You could also find a couple of stones where the soldier is unknown, or as the inscription says : Ein unbekannters Deutcher Soldat. I was at the cemetery today, adding it to Billiongraves.com. The weather was not optimal for headstone photography but I wanted to upload at least a few graves to start with.

Wilhelm Kunze 1915 - 1940
Karl Spangenberg 1928 - 1944

Georg Mannes 1909 - 1945
Ein unbekannter Deutcher Soldat

One area is called Commonwealth and here are Brittish, Canadian and Australian soldiers buried.

Commonwealth 

Commonweath plot

D A MacDonald, died August 30, 1944, age 23

What I love about billiongraves is the possiblity to geotag the photos so that you really know where the headstone is. I took and uploades 36 photos today and on the map you can really tell where in this cemetery you will find those headstones.

Other links:
Pictures of headstones and transcription of the inscriptions  http://www.hembygdshistoria.se/palsjo/index-e.htm
Pålsjö Cemetery at Find a greve : http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=1984447

Sibling Saturday - Part 4 Pavel Verno

The Verno siblings are my great-grandaunts (Helena, Valentina, Maria), uncles (Voldomar, Pavel) and my great-grandmother Julia. Thier parents were August Verno and Anna Lindeberg (spelling?) My grandmother was born in Estonia but the generation before her seems to come from a part that today belongs to Russia. I don't know very much about that part of the family and that makes it so much more interesting. Also, mainly all information is in Estonian and Russian, two languages I don't know and that ofcourse makes it a little (well, much to be honest) harder to find information and takes a lot more time. On the other hand, great pleasure everytime a tiny bit in the puzzle is solved.

The sibling I know the least about is Pavel Verno. I don't know when he was born, if he was married or when he died. He is a white spot on my Vernomap. He might have been born i Pskov / Pihkva /Pleskau / Pleskava / Psków (same place many names in different languages)

Pavel Verno

Verno Siblings

Verno siblings:
Part 1 - Sonja Verno (Oeberg)
Part 2 - Maria Verno (Belinski)
Part 3 - Valentina Verno (Kiljar)


Free silhouetteclipart found at  http://www.arthursclipart.org/silhouettes/silhouettes.htm

Follow Friday - Find Lost Russian & Ukrainian Family

I have ancestors from Estonia and possible Russia. I have been looking for resources for a couple of weeks about Russian genealogy and yesterday I found a really nice blog.

Its called Find Lost Russian & Ukrainian Family - Uncovering the secrets of finding family and records in the former USSR. Well, it couldn't be more spot on, exactly what I was looking for. Since I only found it yesterday I have many blogposts ahead of me to read and many links to explore and much to learn. Super exciting!

http://lostrussianfamily.wordpress.com

Wednesday Wedding - Paas

This is a photo that belonged to my grandmother. The woman in the photo has the surname Paas. That is all I know. Probably taken in Estonia.

Paas

Workday Wednesday - Great grandfather Bengt Jönsson

This in my great grandfather Bengt Jönsson (1870 - 1961) working with his horses in the woods.

Talented Tuesday - Louise Brooks

It was 1991. I had moved away from home to study computer science, a new city, living in a dorm. OMD had released thier album Sugar Tax. It was the first CD I ever bought, CDs were pretty new at the time and I had that particular album on repeat. One of my favorite songs on that album was Pandoras Box and I was a happy girl every time MTV decided to show the music video. Loved that video and that was when I first heard of Lousie Brooks. Back then it was hard to find out any information on her. Today there are plenty hits on her at Google and lots of pictures. And YouTube.

Well, anyhow, I was looking at U. S. Passport Applications at ancestry.com the other day. I did a search on Louise Brooks and I found her. Occupation: Actress. She applied for a passport in 1924, age 18. She was going to France and England to visit relatives and travel.

Louise Brooks at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Brooks

Sibling Saturday - Verno siblings part 3 - Valentina Verno

The Verno siblings are my great-grandaunts (Helena, Valentina, Maria), uncles (Voldomar, Pavel) and my great-grandmother Julia. Thier parents were August Verno and Anna Lindeberg (spelling?) My grandmother was born in Estonia but the generation before her seems to come from a part that today belongs to Russia. I don't know very much about that part of the family and that makes it so much more interesting. Also, mainly all information is in Estonian and Russian, two languages I don't know and that ofcourse makes it a little (well, much to be honest) harder to find information and takes a lot more time. On the other hand, great pleasure everytime a tiny bit in the puzzle is solved.

Valentina also known as Valja is just like her sister Maria much of a mystery to me. I don't have her birthdate, marriage date or death date. I know she got married to a man called Wilhelm Kiljar (uncertain on how to spell that). I know they had a daughter Wilhelmina who died when she was a child. They might have had an other child as well, perhaps a son, I don't know any name of the eventually second child.

Valentina Verno married Kiljar and daughter Wilhelmina

Part 1 of the Verno siblings Sonja Verno married Oeberg

Part 2 of the Verno siblings Maria Verno married Belinski

Friday's Faces From the Past - Löwenhjelm

I buy old photos at flee markets and on auction websites online like Ebay and the Swedish site Tradera. This picture I bought online. A very handsome young man I'd say. C Löwenhjelm. Photo by Lundmarks Atelier (photo studio) in Umeå.

C Löwenhjelm

At the Swedish Genealogy Society there is a database where you can upload pictures like the one above. I know they are rebuildning the database, it is more than ten years old and have limited search abilities but it contains 129196 photos at the moment. If you want to check it out it is found at http://www.genealogi.se/portratt/form.php . You are able to browse first on an area in Sweden and then a photographer / photo studio or do a search.

This particular photo I uploaded in 2009 and only a few days later there was a comment on who the person might be in the Swedish 1900 census. http://www.genealogi.se/portratt/comment.php?id=95375

Wordless Wednesday - Graduation Day

Since it is graduation day here in Helsingborg, Sweden today I picked a photo with a student wearing the typical Swedish graduation hat. I bought the picture at a fleemarket years ago. The photographer is Axel Häggmark and it is taken in Stenstavik.

Harald Wagenius

On the back of the photo it is written: Harald Wagenius.

Sibling Saturday - Verno siblings part 2 - Maria Verno

The Verno siblings are my great-grandaunts (Helena, Valentina, Maria), uncles (Voldomar, Pavel) and my great-grandmother Julia. My grandmother was born in Estonia but the generation before her seems to come from a part that today belongs to Russia. I don't know very much about that part of the family and that makes it so much more interesting. Also, mainly all information is in Estonian and Russian, two languages I don't know and that ofcourse makes it a little (well, much to be honest) harder to find information and takes a lot more time. On the other hand, great pleasure everytime a tiny bit in the puzzle is solved.

In part 1 I wrote about Sofie Verno, who married Leo Oeberg, born in Moscow (http://cousinlinda.blogspot.se/2013/05/sibling-saturday-verno-siblings-part-1.html)

I dont have much information on Marie Verno. No birthdate but her sister Julia was born in 1887, her sister Sofie in 1896 and her brother Voldemar in 1900 so sometime around those years.

All I know is that she was married to a Michail Belinski (spelling?) and that they had the following children: Anti, Geronom (spelling?), Juulia, Mihail and Veronica.

I don't know the exact spelling of Belinski either, it might be Balinski, Belenski or any other spelling I am not even aware of. I don't have any pictures of them. I haven't found any kind of document or record either, no marriage record, no birth record or death record. Nothing.

I dont know if they stayed in Russia or Estonia or maybe emigrated to some other country.

Maria Verno married to Michail Belinski

Lots of questions marks but I am sure I will find them someday, one way or another.