One Swedish Ancestor at a Time

Födelse- och dopböcker or birth and baptism registers begin in 1869 in the Tånnö church archives at Riksarkivet. This can be a challenging area for research because of fires that destroyed a number of church records. However, it is possible to verify the 1863 birth date of Anders Gustaf Linnell, the firstborn child of Johan…

Infamous Neighbors

How do people in a neighborhood react when they learn an alleged serial killer had been living among them? Herman Webster Mudgett (1861 – 1896), better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or H. H. Holmes, was an American con artist and alleged serial killer who lived at South Wallace Avenue and West 63rd Street…

Finding A Grave

My French third great grandmother Marie Anne Schmitt (née Gury) died sometime between June 1860 and June 1870. According to the 1860 census, Marie Anne (called Mary here), her husband Nicolaus (recorded as Nick) and eight of their children lived in Cincinnati, presumably in the Over the Rhine neighborhood. Their youngest children Joseph (5) and…

How Far is Too Far Removed?

I don’t recall how I stumbled upon the information that led me to Anna, but her married surname rang a bell. I’d seen it on a passenger list, connected to a man who was coming to America to see his sister. The passenger (Johan Gustaf ~ line 8 below), and the sister he was joining…

Twins from Tånnö

Twin (tvilling) girls were born in the Ny family of Tånnö, Jönköping, Sweden on the 8th of January 1910; Anna Gunborg Kristina and Greta Tarborg Katrina. The girls were baptized January 27th. In addition to their births, the entries in Tånnö’s Births and Baptisms Book includes information about the girls’ parents. According to the record…

Are Obituaries Always Accurate?

My quest continues ~ I’m still searching for the descendants of my Norwegian and Swedish 4th great-grandparents. My focus this year is on those who left Scandinavia and settled in North America. My Norwegian 4th great-grandparents Christian Tronson (1779-1852) and Gunvor Mortensdatter (1788-1875) had 10 known children. Several of the ten left Norway behind, immigrating…

January 1, 1858-1921

My second great-grandfather was given the name Pehr August when he entered the world on 01 Jan 1858 in Svenarum, Jönköping, Sweden. He was the 5th of eight children born to spiksmed (nail-smith) Carl Tolf and his wife Helena Stina Åhman. Pehr was just 11 years old when his oldest brother Gustaf emigrated to America.…