where2look4ancestors

Category: Genealogy

  • 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…

  • There’s More to this Story

    My dad’s paternal grandparents married young. Very young actually, Gustav Robert Mangels was 18 when he and 16 year old Esther Ingeborg Clarin tied the knot. They were married in a Lutheran church which may explain the embellishment of their ages on their marriage certificate. Both Gustav and Esther had…

  • 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’…

  • Swedish Research on Riksarkivet

    Carl Magnus Carlson was the second of four illegitimate children born to my 2nd great-grandmother Maja Stina Carlsdotter. The page on which Carl’s birth was recorded tells more than just that; Swedish records offer a wealth of related information. The pages shown here are among the thousands of records available…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • All the Lost Stories

    When I started researching my family history in the 1980s, I knew very little about any of my ancestors, even less about their countries of origin, and next to nothing of our shared heredity. Neither of my parents were very interested in genealogy. I didn’t hold out much hope of…

  • Headstone Genealogy

    I’ve seen many headstones that provide wonderful clues for anyone researching that particular family tree. But none quite as wonderful as the Hollister headstone in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis. The names, dates and relationships on the front and on the back made it easy to find the right Hollisters in the…

  • Are We Related? Part One

    Dear Prospective Cousin, I think you and I may be leaves on the same family tree! According to the relationship chart below, your mother (or grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, sister, sister-in-law, spouse’s cousin) Alice Hester Clarke Jenkinson was my first-cousin thrice removed. That may sound distant but consider this; Alice’s father…

  • 3 Things I Learned from Alfred Mueller’s Social Security Record

    3 Things I Learned from Alfred Mueller’s Social Security Record

    The SS-5 form was more valuable to me than the SSDI (Social Security Death Index) in my quest to prove my great-grandfather’s date of birth. Why? Because it had been completed by the subject of my search. Not to mention the oodles of additional information the form added to my…