A New Cousin

In the last week, I came across a treasure trove of information on my Swedish ancestry in the recent archives of RootsWeb's Sweden mailing list. There were several posts from a Brenda in Seattle regarding Carl Jacob Johnson and his wife Stina Lotta Jonsdotter, which just happen to be my great-great-grandparents (my maternal grandmother's paternal grandparents for those of you keeping score at home). In one of her posts, she mentioned their son, Gustaf Adolph, so I knew I was on to something important.

I mentioned these posts in an email to my 2nd cousin Janice, with whom I share Gust as a great-grandfather. Turns out she had already been in contact with Brenda. So I contacted Brenda and it turns out she had already been in contact with my mother and brother, Ross. I am obviously way out of the loop when it comes to my Swedish roots.

Brenda, as it happens, is my 3rd cousin--we share Carla and Stina/Christina as great-great-grandparents. Her great-grandmother, Anna, was Gust's sister. I sent Brenda a picture of Christina that she had not seen and a wedding day picture of Gust and his wife Rose. She has promised to send me pictures, obituaries and more immigration info about the family (Carl and Stina brought the family over in 1881) when she returns from vacation. Hurry home, Brenda!

Here are Gust's ancestors in graphic form:


Here is an afentahl for my great-grandfather. I've put in bold the info I have managed to gleam from Brenda's many posts to the mailing lists asking for help with understanding the records she has found in Genlines. Mark from Oconomowac has generously chipped in often on replies with info from the PLF CDs that contain databases of parish data from Kalmar County.


1. Gustaf Adoph JOHNSON b:18-Aug-1867 in Locknevi parish, Kalmar County, Småland Province, Sweden; m:4-Sep-1899 to Rosabel STRAYER in Rock Island County, IL, USA; d:25-Dec-1941 in Henning,Otter Tail County,MN,USA

2. Carl Jacob JOHANSSON b:01-July-1832 in Vrångfall, Locknevi, Kalmar,Småland,Sweden; m:04-Sep-1863 in Locknevi, Kalmar, Småland, Sweden; d:17-Oct-1915 in Orion,Henry County,IL,USA


3. Christina Lotta JÖNSDOTTER b:04-Jul-1839 in Slottsbäcken,Locknevi,Kalmar,Småland,Sweden; d:10-Oct-1919 in Gordon,Sheridan County,NE,USA

4. Johan Peter KARLSSON b:19-Jul-1807 in Vrångfall,Locknevi,Kalmar,Småland,Sweden; m: 17-Nov-1830 in Locknevi,Kalmar,Småland,Sweden d: 29-May-1852 in Locknevi,Kalmar,Småland,Sweden

5. Stina Greta JAKOBSDOTTER b:03-Oct-1806 in Hallingshult,Locknevi, Kalmar,Småland,Sweden; d:20-May-1845 in Vrångfall,Locknevi,Kalmar,Småland,Sweden

6. Jonas (UHRE) NILSSON b:12-May-1796 in Junkerhorfva,Hjorted,Kalmar,Småland,Sweden; m: 7-Feb-1819 in Hjorted,Kalmar,Småland,Sweden; d:14-Oct-1862 in Locknevi,Kalmar,Småland,Sweden

7. Lisa PERSDOTTER b:22-Oct-1796 in Strömsnäs Av Bergebo,Hjorted,Kalmar,Småland,Sweden; d:22-Apr-1848 in Sweden

8. Karl HINRICSSON b: 21-Oct-1764 in Locknevi,Kalmar,Småland,Sweden m:26-Dec-1789 in Locknevi,Kalmar,Småland,Sweden; d:26 Mar 1827 in Locknevi,Kalmar,Småland,Sweden

9. Stina JOHANSDOTTER

10. Jakob HIERONYMISSON b: 1776

11. Anna Kajsa SAMUELSDOTTER WISTEDT

12. Nils SVENSSON d: 1805

13. Anna JONSDOTTER b: abt 1769

14. Peter STÅL (The last name means "steel." That's a military name, don't have his patronym.)

15. Kierstin Larsdotter b: abt 1766; second marriage since the record lists her as a widow

The information that Brenda has posted also contains details on baptisms, burials, jobs and residences. How am I ever going to find time to capture all of this into our family tree? I really appreciate Brenda and her mailing list helpers for digging through all of the records and gathering up this wonderfl information.

More grave markers

A few weeks ago I stumbled across the Find a Grave web site. I spent some time searching for various family names and was surprised that my search for "Strayer" turned up my great-great-grandfather and grandmother. Abraham STRAYER and his wife Harriet Alice (HOWARD) STRAYER are buried side by side in Chippiannock Cemetery, Rock Island, IL. Buried nearby is their son, John Howard STRAYER.

When my brother Ross was visiting from Texas last May, I considered having us spend a day in the Quad Cities trying to locate family graves. Since we had no information on where exactly they were buried, it seemed like a fool's errand. Especially since the forecast called for non-stop rain. With this information, it wold have been easily done. Maybe next time.

The information and pictures at Find a Grave were posted anonomously in August 2006. The grave marker and information posted for Abraham list his birth year as 1822. I had it as 1823, but I had no source listed. The 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 US Census records are little help. Using the information from them, his birth year would be 1823, 1824, 1822 and 1822, respectively. His enlistment information in the Spring of 1862 lists his age as 39, which would make his birth year 1822. I pulled out his Civil War pension file. In a quick perusal of the 100+ pages, I could find no birth date listed. All of his given ages on various documents point to a birth year of 1822. I think I have enough evidence to justify changing the year to 1822 until I can find a Pensylvania baptism record.

The information posted for Harriet differs from mine in the death date. I had 14-Apr-1914. The poster to Find a Grave has it as 2-Apr-1914. Again a quick perusal of the Civil War pension file for her claims as a widow confirms a death date of 2-Apr. That explains why, on a recent trip to the State Archives in Des Moines, I cold not find an obituary for her in any Davenport newspaper--I was looking almost two weeks too late. I also happened to find a mention in the pension file that she had beeen buried in Chippiannock Cemetery. So, with a little research, I could have taken my brother there after all.

Broken tombstone

Don't rely on transcriptions.

In the biography of my great-grandfather, John HUIGENS, from a 1912 history of Knox County, NE, it states "Mr. Huigens was born in Henry, Marshall county, Illinois, June 15, 1862, and reared just across the line in Putnam county; here he lived engaged in farming until his migration to Nebraska. He is a son of Edward and Catherine (Thoemas) Huigens, the former a native of Holland who died when the son was but two years old..." Based on this, we can surmise that my great-great-grandfather died about 1864 in Marshall County, IL.

In the 1860 U.S. Census of Hopewell Township, Marshall County, IL, the age of A. HIGGIN, my great-great-grandfather, is given as 32. That makes his birth year about 1828 and his age when he died around 36.

In searching for his place of burial, I came across the following entry in a transcription of grave markers in the Old Catholic Cemetery, Henry Township, Marshall County, IL:

Eberhard Heigens Died February 27, 1864. Aged 21 years.

The name was close and plausible. (As I've previously blogged, my great-great-grandfather's actual name is still a mystery.) The death year is also a match according to the info from his son's bio. But the age is about 15 years off. Is it him?

The Old Catholic Cemeteary (AKA the Old Irish Cemetery, Old St. Mary's Cemetery, Old German Catholic Cemetery, Old Settler's Cemetery, the Merritt Cemetery, the Apfel Cemetery, the Meridian Cemetery) is located in the middle of a corn field. Tom Bogner, who tends to the cemetery, first took my wife and me to visit it a couple of years ago. There I saw the grave marker for my great-great-great-mother, Maria TOEMMES. I also took a closer look at Eberhard's grave. His marker was in two pieces and appeared to be broken across a line of text, which was obscure by an overgrowth of grass. Unfortunately on that first trip, my camera malfunctioned, so I was not able to obtain any photographs. I also could not make out any of the writing after pushing the grass aside.

Last May, when my brother was visiting, we made a trip down to the cemetery. It took us a while to find it, but we trekked through the pouring rain and the mud and took several pictures.





While we were standing there, my brother, who took a little high school German, pointed out that the bottom half of the tombstone read "21 tage alt", 21 days old, not 21 years old. The first time that I had been there I had been so focused on the fact of the two halves and the illegible line of text that I hadn't noticed the obvious mistranslation. I had assumed tha the text gave Eberhard's birth date. With this new information, I was now convinced it would state his age in years and months at the time of his death.

After moving the grass away from the bottom of the top half of the stone, I was able to take a close up picture of the writing there. I was able to maniplate the image enough to be able to read most of it.

As near as I can tell, it says "36 jahre 2 ?????." I canot make out that last word. It should be "monate" for months. That would make Eberhard's age at the time of his death 36 years, 2 months and 21 days--a perfect match for the expected age of my great-great-grandfather.

So I've verfied that the grave is most likely that of my great-great-grandfather, Eberhard/Evert/Edward HEIGENS/HIGGIN/HEUIGEN, born 6-Dec-1827, died 27-Feb-1864.

I repeat, don't rely on trascriptions. Lesson learned.

Say "Yes!" to Michigan

I recently obtained a copy of an obituary that my mother has for her great-grandfather, James Robert (J.R.) OGDEN. According to that obituary "About the year 1870 Mr. Ogden and his family came to Michigan rfom[sic] Canada, where he remained until 1880."

This was the first information I had that J.R. and his family had spent time anywhere but Ontario and South Dakota. My brother, the keeper of info on our mother's side of the family, already knew this, of course. He pointed out to me that the birthplace of J.R.'s daughter, Emily Vella (OGDEN) HARRIS, is "Michigan" in the 1880 US Census and the 1885 Dakota Territory Census. (We haven't found her in later censuses yet.)

Emily's birth year according to these two sources was either 1873 or 1874. I found the Family Search database of Michigan Births 1867-1902 and looked for her. And there she was--born 10-Aug-1874 in Elba in Lapeer County, parents James R. and Hannah OGDEN.

The strange thing is that their residence is listed as Deerfield, which is in Lenawee County, MI. According to Google Earth, Elba is about 95 miles NNW of Deerfield. Why were they so far from home when Emily was born? We'll need to do some more research looking for related family members in that area that Hannah (GIBBON) OGDEN or J.R. may have been visiting or find some other reason why Hannah would have given birth in Elba.

In an effort to narrow down the time span that the OGDENs were in Michigan, I took a look at the birthdates of Emily's siblings on either side of her in birth order. William Fredrick OGDEN (my great-grandfather) was born in Ontario on 10-Oct-1871 and Mercie Belle (OGDEN) FROHMAN was born 12-Mar-1878, also in Ontario. So the OGDENs arrived in Michigan some time between Oct. 1871 and Aug. 1874. They went back to Canada some time between Aug. 1874 and Mar. 1878.

I have not been able to find any Michigan state census records for Lenawee County in that time span that woul provide more information. I did find an 1874 plat map for Deerfield Township in Lenawee County. Unfortunately, I can't find the Ogdens on it.

Once again answering one question just raises more questions.

Arrived

One of the many benefits of reading genealogy blogs is that I often get ideas for new sources of potential family history nuggets. For instance, a few weeks ago, on "Ask Olive Tree Genealogy a Question," I read the following:

It's fun to look for these ships in the New York Times newspaper Archives. You can find out when the ship arrived in port and sometimes other details especially if they encountered bad weather en route.

What a great idea! Since the archive only goes back to 1851, I started by looking for the earliest arrival I know from after that date. On ancestry.com, I had previously found a passenger list that showed my great-great grandmother, Catherine TOEMMES, arriving in New York from Le Havre on the ship Finland on Saturday, 23-Apr-1853.

From the image, I also learned that Catherine had immigrated with several other Toemmeses. These turned out to be her brother, Matthias, her mother, Maria, and her sisters, Anna, Maria and Anna Maria (AKA Emma).

Knowing the date of the Finland's arrival made it very easy to locate the following in the NYT archives. From the Monday, 25-April-1853 edition:

"In ballast" means that the ship carried no cargo, just the passengers and crew, their baggage, and enough extra weight to keep the ship from "heeling" or tipping over. "To master" means that there was no hired agent and the ship's captain (the master) was acting as the agent. "Johnson" was the ship's captain, Henry Johnson, as shown in the information from the first page of the passeger list.

Since the ship arrived on 23-Apr-1853 after 49 days at sea, it must have left Le Havre on Saturday, 5-Mar-1853. Just another interesting little tidbit of family history.