Month: April 2014

Släktband Review, Season 1 Episode 3

Posted on by GFröbergMorris

Family Secrets
This episode begins with a man named Kjell Weber of Torslanda who shared 2 family secrets. One was a family story that had been passed down for generations. The story goes that the family name of Ödman went back to an English seaman whose last name was Smith. He was shipwrecked and came ashore to an island called Skaftö which is off the coast of Bohuslän by floating on a plank. Then he found an abandoned house (Ödehus) where he settled down and stayed. Smith eventually changed his last name to Ödman as a variation on the name of the house. Kjell found that an early generation had sons that simply took the name Ödman to replace their patronymic names. When Kjell shared this with his family, an Aunt was not happy to hear the truth. Elisabeth Renström summarized that this story had been passed down for generations, but it turned out to be just a story. The English seaman whose name was Smith had never existed and some of the modern family was not happy to hear the truth.

The episode transitions to another interesting topic, the naming patterns of given names in Sweden. Elisabeth Renström met with Margareta Svahn, a manager with the Dialect, Place Name, and Cultural Archive (Dialekt ortnamns och folkminnesarkivet) in Göteborg. Magareta shared some interesting points regarding “given names” such as:

  • In rural areas many people named their children according to “traditional given names” in the family. For example, they might name the first son after the father’s father and the first daughter after the mother’s mother.

 

  • You’ll see that some given names were popular in an area, such as many parents naming their sons Per, Anders, or Karl in a village.

 

  • By the 1700’s and 1800’s people started to use given names from other countries. Naming practices changed first in the cities, and then eventually in rural areas.

 

  • The first group in society to use foreign given names was the townsman, or citizen social class (the Borgare.)

 

  • Some illegitimate children were given unusual first names because 1. The unwed mother may have been employed as a household servant by the borgare (she was influenced by non-traditional names) and 2. Having a child out of wedlock had a negative social stigma so the mother might break from family traditions.

 

  • A child’s given name might have been influenced by the priest. There are examples where the priest was told by the parents what the name should be (even written on paper), but the priest didn’t like it so he chose something else.

 

  • The priest might have christened the child according to a proper form of the name. For example, the parents requested Kajsa but he recorded the name as Karen or Katarina. The child’s name is recorded in the birth record as Karen or Katarina but she was known throughout her life as Kajsa.

 

  • Although a child’s name was recorded in the birth record with one spelling, it doesn’t mean that anyone kept using that spelling in other records.

 

  • During Viking and early Medieval times people used Nordic names (such Asmund, Ingrid, and Sven.) Christianity brought a variety of given names, especially from the liturgical calendar such as Andreas, Johannes, Petrus that became Anders, Johan, and Per.

 

  • The time of Sweden’s wars and expansion in the 1600’s brought names from other countries especially France and Germany. Names from other countries become popular in the 1700’s (first in the larger cities) and then in the 1800’s throughout the rest of the country.

 

The episode switches to the topic of a project called Namn åt de döda 1950 – 2003 (meaning Names of the dead) that was led by the Swedish Federation of Genealogical Societies (Sverige Släktforskarförbund.) The information from this project was published on a C.D. database called Sveriges Dödbok (maning Swedish Death Book), which has multiple versions (latest is 1901 – 2009 that has about 7.1 million people in it.) The database includes other information such as birthdate, their personal i. d. number (if the person died after 1947), social standing, birth parish, and the residence parish at the time of death. The purpose of the database is to help people find information about when someone died without having to visit a regional archive or contact a parish. The legal responsibility for parishes to keep vital records stopped in 1991.)

 

Elisabeth Renström switches back to her interview with Kjell Weber who shared another piece of the family story, this time an ancestor guilty of murder. The ancestors name is Karl Johansson who was a guard at the city jail in Göteborg. One evening in the spring of 1847 Karl and a friend went out for a walk. They went down a darkened street where they ran into 3 other men, one of them being in the military. The men began to mock and insult each other, all of the men participated but it was mostly between the military man and Karl. Court documents do not show what the insults were about, but the insults turned into a fight. The story goes that suddenly Karl breaks into an insane rage; he picked up a wooden shovel that happened to be nearby and began to beat one of the 3 men who was the slowest.

 

Karl beat the youngest of the group, a young man named Daniel Jacobsson who worked in one of the cigar factories to death. One of the witnesses who testified in court, was a laborer named Andreas Kristensson. He described how Karl came out from a doorway with the shovel in hand to chase the young man. The city court records show that another witness described the yelling, and sounds of the blows. It was dark and somewhat unclear who actually did the beating, but another witness said it was Karl.

 

Karl was convicted for murder and condemned to the death by beheading. The conviction was appealed to an appellate court, but the conviction was upheld. It was appealed again to the Swedish Supreme Court with a request for mercy from the King. The King upheld the conviction but the penalty was changed to 28 days on bread and water (which was equivalent to a death sentence), public confession, and 10 years at a labor prison. Karl served his time at the labor prison in Malmö between 1848 and 1858. After his release, Karl returned to Bohuslän where he found work as a laborer, eventually married and had a family.

 

Kjell shared the story of the English seaman, and other stories that had been passed down to illustrate how family’s keep secrets, and other things are only partially true.

 

The episode ends with some research advice from Thord Bylund and Kathrine Flyborg:
–  You start with building your family tree as far back as you can.
–  Eventually you can’t go further back, so you work on collateral lines or pick an early ancestor and work your way down the descendants.
–  The research in the 1800’s is usually the easiest to work in.
–  Another research activity is to gather family photos, and then collaborate with extended family to identify the people in the photos.

 

What do we learn for Swedish genealogy?

 

  • Some family stories are simply wrong, and some family members will not be happy to hear the truth.

 

  • There is a rich and interesting history to the given names in the Swedish culture.

 

  • The records in Sweden are very good. As you search the records you will find family secrets, or discover the truth of a family story.

 

Source: Släktband by Gunilla Nordlund and Elisabeth Renström

Season: 1 – Genealogy Courses and Other Useful Topics

Episode: 3 Släkthemligheter

Date of publication: 21 November, 2004

Published by: Sveriges Radio P1

Language: Swedish

Link to episode: Släktband 1:3 Släkthemligheter

Type Swedish Letters Å, Ä, and Ö for Genealogy

Posted on by GFröbergMorris

Swedish Letters

The Swedish alphabet has 29 letters, A through Z plus Å, Ä, and Ö. Sometimes you will see other letters with marks above them such as é, á, ü, or ÿ, but these letters are considered variants of e, a, u, and y. Because the letters å, ä, and ö are letters in the Swedish alphabet, you should use them in your genealogical data entry, searching for Swedish genealogical websites, or using databases from Sweden. Here are some examples in correct spelling:

First Names:
Ake is Åke
Goran is Göran
Hakan is Håkan
Jons is Jöns
Par is Pär

Last Names:
Aberg is Åberg
Akerberg is Åkerberg
Backman is Bäckman
Oman is Öman
Ostman is Östman
Soderberg is Söderberg
Wahlstrom is Wahlström

Place Names:
Akarpsgarden is Åkarpsgården
Algsjon is Älgsjön
Ostergarden is Östergården
Sodra Fagelas is Södra Fågelås
Vasteraker is Västeråker

 

Here are some options to type the letters Å, Ä, and Ö on a English keyboard:

Use the 10 keypad in Windows
Hold down the Alt key and type one of codes below into the 10 keypad. When you let go of the Alt key, the letter will appear.
Å is 143
å is 134
Ä is 142
ä is 132
Ö is 153
ö is 148

 

MAC
To get the umlaut above a letter:
1. Hold down the Option key, and type u (the letter u).
2. Let go of the keys (don’t hold them down for step 3).
3. Type the vowel over which you want the umlaut to appear.

Hold the Shift key down in step 3 Above.
Option+A = å
Shift+Option+A = Å
Option + u, then a = ä
Option + u, then shift + A = Ä
Option + u, then o = ö
Option + u, then shift + O = Ö

 

Copy and Paste from a Swedish Website (Windows)
1. Find a Swedish website
2. Highlight a letter using the mouse, then with the mouse pointer on the highlighted text, do a right click on the mouse and choose copy (or hold down the Ctrl key and press the letter c).
3. Move the mouse pointer to the place want to paste. Click one time so the curser is active. Right click on the mouse and choose paste (or hold down the Crtl key and press the letter v).

 

Keyboard Settings (Windows)

Another option is to change the language input for your keyboard in Windows. In this method, you use the Control Panel to activate the Swedish keyboard. After the keyboard is activated you should see an icon in the lower right corner of your screen that looks like EN. Click on the EN to see a list with the option of choosing English or Swedish. Choose Swedish. The EN should have changed to SV.

As long as the icon is SV, you are using the Swedish keyboard. While in the Swedish keyboard mode the Å, Ä, and Ö can be used on your English keyboard as follows:
• Ä is the ‘ (or “ ) key
• Å is the [ (or { ) key
• Ö is the ; (or : ) key
For the upper case or lower case of each letter, use the Shift key as usual. While the Swedish keyboard is active, some keys on your English keyboard are rearranged too (especially on the number keys across the top.)

 

Here are instructions to change the language keyboard in Windows. Choose the operating system below:

Windows 8
1) Swipe (or move your mouse pointer) to the lower right corner of the screen and click on Settings
2) Change PC Settings
3) Tap or click on Time and language
4) Tap or click on Region and language
5) Tap or click on Swedish and then on Options
6) Tap or click Add a keyboard
7) Browse to the input method to keyboard, and click it

 

Windows 7
1) Click on the Windows symbol in the lower left corner of the screen
2) Control Panel
3) Look for Clock, Language, and Region. Click on the small link below the title that says Change keyboards or input methods
4) Change keyboards…
5) Leave it on the General tab and click on Add
6) Scroll down and click on the + symbol next to Swedish
7) Then click on the + symbol next to the word keyboard
8) Then click in the little empty box next to Swedish. This should create a check mark in the box.
9) Click on OK, Apply, OK, OK
10) Close the Control Panel box

 

Windows Vista
1) Click on the Windows symbol in the lower left corner of the screen
2) Control Panel
3) Regional and Language Options
4) Click on the Keyboards and Languages tab
5) Change keyboards…
6) Leave it on the General tab and click on Add…
7) Scroll down and click on the + symbol next to Swedish
8) Then click on the + symbol next to the word keyboard
9) Then click in the little empty box next to Swedish. This should create a check mark in the box.
10) Click on OK, Apply, OK, OK
11) Close the Control Panel box

Släktband Review, Season 1 Episode 2

Posted on by GFröbergMorris

Women in the Prostitution Records
This episode begins by reading an excerpt from a letter that was written on 2 September 1867 by a woman named Anna Andersson who lived in the city of Göteborg. The police had requested Anna to be registered as a prostitute to control the spread of syphilis. Her letter to the police denied it, but the rest of this story is told later in the program.

The episode transitions to describe how people do genealogy. Some researchers try to go as far back in time as possible, and then switch to working on collateral lines. Others focus on learning as much as they can about specific individuals or families. Elisabeth Renström met with Thord Bylund and Kathrine Flyborg at the Härnösand regional archive. Both Thord and Kathrine have spent many years doing genealogy and have even worked at the archive. Here are the tips from Thord and Kathrine to those doing Swedish genealogy:

  • Begin by going to living relatives, do interviews to gather the family knowledge
  • Verify the family knowledge in records (some information might have been remembered wrong)
  • Too often people try to jump to an early generation (which is difficult), start with information that you know. Build from the known to the unknown.

 

In the last episode of Släktband, they talked about Jonas Berglund who died of syphilis. Sexually transmitted disease, especially syphilis was one of the great problems of society before the 1900’s. To try to control the spread of the disease, the authorities tried to control what they considered was the source, namely women who did not limit their sexual activity to one partner.

 

The program transitions, when Elisabeth visits an archive in Göteborg. She interviews Ulf Andersson who works there. They search the Göteborg city police records that were used to register women who were involved in prostitution between 1864 and 1915 (this system was implemented in Stockholm, Göteborg, and Malmö.) All women who were suspected of prostitution were registered. There were 2 lists, list B was the list for women suspected of prostitution, and list A was for women who were proven to be. The documentation for each woman included: eye color, hair color, shape of nose, and physical build. Files can also include place of residence, names of parents, birthplace, a description of how this woman came to Göteborg, if she has children, if she has contracted sexually transmitted diseases, and where she was confirmed in the Swedish state church. Some of these records have an alphabetical index, but generally people need to search them page by page for the respective time period. There is no comprehensive database, or general index for these records.

 

Another set of records that a genealogist can check are the medical clinic records (a type of hospital) for disease control. Elisabeth met with Gunnel Karlsson (lecturer with Örebro university in women’s studies) who has researched these records. Gunnel explained that the clinic was society’s way of controlling the spread of sexually transmitted disease. Society at that time believed that prostitution was going to happen regardless, so for the sake of a healthy society, they chose to manage it through city ordinance. The ordinance to control prostitution had requirements that it would not disrupt the mainstream population. It was to be discreet, so other women would not know that it was going on. For example, registered women were not to be out in public before 11:00 pm. Women who were suspected by the police, were summoned to the police office and registered. The women were obligated to go to a medical clinic twice a week for a doctor’s examination. If they had signs or symptoms of a disease, then they were kept at the hospital for treatment (although not curable at the time) and released at a later date. The city ordinance did not monitor or treat the men who had contracted sexually transmitted diseases. In searching the records, Gunnel had found that many of these women left their home parish after their confirmation by moving to the city for employment. But if they became unemployed, then there was no social or economic “safety net” in the city for assistance. Further, in many cases either one or both of their parents were already deceased.

 

Ulf Andersson and Elisabeth looked at one of the police files and described one woman’s record. She was the daughter of a carpenter in Lödöse who had moved to the city at 18 years old. She worked in mainstream offices, and had other jobs before becoming unemployed a year and a half later. She was registered on list A in April of 1869 before being convicted for vagrancy in 1870 (homelessness was still a crime in Sweden at this time.) She served 2 years in a labor prison. After being released she was convicted again for vagrancy in 1876 and sentenced to 2 more years in a labor prison. In 1878 she is registered again in the police records for prostitution.

 

Some women who were suspected by the police for prostitution denied it. They could write a letter to the police to be free from registration. A letter might include employment references, referrals to neighbors who can vouch for her staying home at night, and other character references (for example Anna Andersson mentioned at the beginning of the program did this.) But Anna was registered anyway after a man confessed to being with her a few times. Whether money was exchanged or not was not the issue, Anna was registered because she might have contracted a sexually transmitted disease.

 

Gunnel explains that women were released from registration after they could show employment, an engagement to marry, or if they moved away. Ulf then explained that there are many records to follow a woman forward in time to find out what happened after moving away.

 

In episode 1 of Släktband they shared the story of Jonas Berglund and his death from syphilis. This episode shared names, dates, and places of women who were registered with the police for prostitution. The question was brought up regarding privacy laws. Ted Rosvall with the Federation of Swedish Genealogical Societies (Sveriges Släktforskarförbund) explained that there is really just 1 law in Sweden regarding records and privacy. It’s the 70 year rule that says that records which are younger than 70 years have to be evaluated for sensitivity before being open to the public. Otherwise, the law states that people have a right to see the records, and can generally share the information, except for internet use. If the information is going to be placed on the internet, then special rules apply according to EU regulation. In this case, the EU directives conflict with the Swedish law so a compromise had to be made. The new laws state that if a record is over 100 years old, then it is completely open for use, but what about the time period between 70 and 100 years? The Swedish National Archive was given the responsibility to set appropriate guidelines.

 

The episode ends with a short interview with Thord an Kathrine to offer suggestions for people doing their genealogy.

 

What do we learn for Swedish genealogy?

  •  The police records of registration (List A, and B) that were discussed in this article can be found in Nationell Arkivdatabas under: Göteborgs Poliskammare arkiv, DXIVa, Journaler över prostituerade

 

  • The medical clinic records that were discussed in this article can be found in Nationell Arkivdatabas under: Göteborgs Poliskammare arkiv, DXIVb, Diverse journaler, liggare m.m. angående prostituerade (for Besiktningsjournal)

 

  • The cities that required the registration of prostitution were Stockholm, Göteborg, and Malmö.

 

  • If you are starting your research, begin by going to living relatives to gather the family knowledge

 

  • Verify the family knowledge in records (some information might have been remembered wrong)

 

  • Too often people try to jump to an early generation (which is difficult), start with information that you know. Build from the known to the unknown.

 

  • Check with other more experienced researchers. They can offer tips and guidance to help you progress faster.

 

  • Many people believe that most genealogical information can be found in databases. Although there are many great databases to help, you cannot complete your genealogy by databases alone.

 

  • The privacy laws for records in Sweden state that records over 100 years old are open to the public. Records that are younger than 70 years old, must be evaluated for sensitive information.

 

Example from Records:
Kriminalpolisen i Malmö DIV:1 (1877) Bild 64 / sid 61

Kriminalpolisen i Malmö DIV:1 (1877) Bild 64 / sid 61

Used by permission from Arkiv Digital at http://www.arkivdigital.net/
Kriminalpolisen i Malmö DIV:1 (1877) Bild 64 / sid 61

 

Source:

Program: Släktband by Gunilla Nordlund and Elisabeth Renström

Season: 1 – Genealogy Courses and Other Useful Topics

Episode: 2 Kvinnorna i prostitutionsarkiven

Date of publication: 14 November, 2004

Published by: Sveriges Radio P1

Language: Swedish

Link to episode: Släktband 1:2 Kvinnorna i prostitutionarkiven

Swedish to English for Genealogy

Posted on by GFröbergMorris

One of the biggest challenges that people face in Swedish genealogy is the language. Rather than get discouraged, here are some tips to consider:

 

Start by learning key words. Most of the time you will be searching the parish records, so focus on learning the key words for the birth, marriage, and death records.
As most household examination records are organized by place, learn how to read the place names. Use gazetteers to help identify a place name that is difficult to interpret (see the gazetteers listed in the links list.)

 

The Swedish household examination records are known for the comments that were written out to the side of a person’s name. The comment may, or may not be important but you won’t know the value until you find out what it means. The comments are usually written as sentences which use a wider variety of the language. They were written in a form of the spoken language.

 

The spelling of words was standardized over time. The earliest attempt of spelling reform was in 1801. They tried again in 1869 and between 1886 and 1899. The biggest changes to spelling took place in 1906 (see Gammalstavning in the Swedish Wikipedia)

 

All languages evolve over time. You’ll find that some words had different meanings in the past; some words have been added to the language, while others words have disappeared completely. To help with this problem, you can use Swedish – English dictionaries that were printed in the time period that you are researching. The easiest one to use is the Swedish Historical Dictionary Database, or SHDD. It’s a free searchable database built upon a Swedish – English dictionary printed in 1814. Other historical Swedish – English dictionaries are available for free through Google books and other websites. Here is a list by year, author, and title:

 

1788. Widegren, Gustaf. Svenskt och Engelskt Lexicon (pdf)

1814, Wahrman, S. N. Svenskt och Tyskt, Franskt, Engelskt Hand Lexicon (Searchable through the Swedish Historical Dictionary Database, or SHDD)

1829. Deleen, Carl. Swedish and English Pocket Dictionary (pdf)

1872. Öman, V.E. Svensk-Engelsk Hand-Ordbok (pdf)

1889. Björkman, Carl Gustaf. Svensk engelsk ordbok (pdf)

 

Most of the dictionaries can be downloaded as a PDF (click on the titles to download). In some cases the dictionary can be printed “on demand” such as the Widegren dictionary from 1788 through booksellers such as AbeBooks or Amazon.

 

I bought a “print on demand” copy of the 1788 Widegren dictionary and this is what I found. This dictionary was printed in a Romanized font instead of the Gothic font. This makes the dictionary a lot easier to read. Most of the text printed just fine, but many letters are missing part of a letter, for example the lower part of the letter a, k or g. The diacritic marks above the Swedish letters Å, Ä, and Ö are partially printed or missing too. Another challenge is the English words were printed in old English where they used a long “s” that looks like a lower case f instead of a lower case s, such as eftablifh. Nonetheless the 1788 Widegren dictionary offers unique historical insight to the language of that time period.

 

You can learn a lot about the Swedish language and genealogy by reading the Language Characteristics section of the Swedish Genealogical Word List on FamilySearch.org.
You can also get help with the language from a variety of Swedish genealogy forums online. See the Forums (for Questions and Answers) section of our Links page.

Best wishes in the journey to find your Swedish ancestors.

Geoff

Interpreting Dates in the Swedish Parish Records

Posted on by GFröbergMorris

Every event in the Swedish parish records has a day, month, and year to show when the event took place (for example, when a christening was performed.) The challenge is to find the date and interpret it correctly. To help you with dates in the records, I’ve put together a few tips:

 

 

  • In Sweden they record time in the order of day, month, and year.

 

 

  • In the household examination records you will find the day and month are often written in a way that looks like a fraction in math with the day written above the month such as 15/4 to mean the 15th of April.

 

 

  • The month might be written Latin such as Maius instead of Maj.

 

 

  • The birth, marriage, and death records were usually kept in chronological order. Most times the year is only written once by the month of January.

 

 

  • Sometimes you’ll find the order was recorded by the liturgical year (the church year) that began with Advent instead of January.

 

 

  • The Swedish government transitioned from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar over a period of years. They started in 1700 (sometimes called the Swedish calendar), but switched back to the Julian in 1712 (oddly the month of February in 1712 had 30 days.) They continued with the Julian calendar until 1753.

 

 

  • On February 18, 1753 the Swedish government switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.

 

 

  • Sometimes you will find the date of event was written using a Feast Day instead of the Julian or Gregorian calendar. This is especially common in areas that used to belong to Denmark such as Malmöhus, Kristianstad, Halland, or Blekinge. For example the date of a marriage might be written as 5 p. Epiphania in 1773.

 

 

  • There are Fixed Feast Days like Christmas (on the same day every year) and Moveable Feast Days such as Easter (on a different day from year to year.)

 

 

  • Generally the Moveable Feast Days were on Sundays, and most christenings, marriages, and burials were performed on Sundays. So it’s more common to see Moveable Feast Days in the birth, marriage, and death records.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope these tips help you in your Swedish genealogical research.
Happy researching!