Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

[joecct]

What tools did you use to track the Norwegians back in the home country? I have the name and date that my great grandfather crossed over, and he went to a weird destination (NJ instead of the Great Lakes) so I have hopes.

Your grandfather was a wise man.

[Kepler]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Your grandfather was a wise man.

I dunno if moving to East Orange New Jersey is wise.

Maybe in 1880, though. It actually looks... nice.



Though I think he spent most of his time here:

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

I keep posting this because it worked for me. Post up a thread with what you know on ancestry as well as search out anything that might be on the message board for someone even remotely connected and comment. That is how the Swedish side found me.

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

What tools did you use to track the Norwegians back in the home country? I have the name and date that my great grandfather crossed over, and he went to a weird destination (NJ instead of the Great Lakes) so I have hopes.

Norway is a major pain in the *** to track down. I use Ancestry.com, but for Norway, Ancestry is pretty useless. I have found 2 different branches of my family in Norway (still many that I haven't had much luck with), and both of them I found different ways.

For the one that we met when we were there. I had birthdates, from death records in the US. No information about immigration, other than a year. I did some Googling on the surname, to see if I could find hints, since that surname isn't the traditional "son,sen" suffix name. I found that this name is actually a farm name, a common farm name (there are like 7 different farms that I found in Norway with this name). I went to the Norway national archive database and looked through old census records for the parishes where the farms were located. Eventually I found a name/birthdate that matched my ancestor, living on a farm with the new surname. So that is how I found the farm in Norway. Much more convoluted than finding info in Sweden.

The other family was easier, I was looking in Ancestry at other people's trees, found one with the same people in it, with a Norwegian place of birth listed. I went to the Norway archives again, did another search for that parish in the census, and found the family, confirming that the place listed in that other tree was correct. I have found that most place names in other trees are not correct in Sweden and Norway. I never take that information for fact until I find a corroborating fact in the origin country records.

[Kepler]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Thank you for the info. I have done all of the above except I have not tried the Norwegian archive. Never knew it existed.

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Thank you for the info. I have done all of the above except I have not tried the Norwegian archive. Never knew it existed.

https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/

[Slap Shot]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

As all four of my grandparents are of different origins (Norway, Germany, Russia and Denmark) it's a large work in progress.

[Kepler]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

As all four of my grandparents are of different origins (Norway, Germany, Russia and Denmark) it's a large work in progress.

Same here (Norway, Italy, Czechia, Slovakia) unless we're just counting the country it was at the time in which case they came from three countries all of which don't exist anymore (United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Austrian Empire x2).

[walrus]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

In Norway they were. It was a different family farming the land in Sweden, since in that family, there aren't any living relatives left in that area.

I think being stewards of that land for so many years is pretty cool.

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

My Swedish guy uses Heritage instead of Ancestry. Not sure if that is maybe more popular there. My GGF changed his name when he moved here and his relatives did too. What a mess. I let the Swede do all the work and just tag a long.

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

I think being stewards of that land for so many years is pretty cool.

Me too. Not something you see over here that much. My Scots were on the same land from 1400s to 1934

[Drew S.]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

I have an extra disc for FTM Mac based (if you are an apple person) if you want it. They sent it by accident. It is a version or maybe two back but it will go and and if you like it you can upgrade.

I appreciate the offer and do have a mac but unfortunately my new one doesn't have a CD drive. At some point I will buy the new version and get my act together.

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

I appreciate the offer and do have a mac but unfortunately my new one doesn't have a CD drive. At some point I will buy the new version and get my act together.

Bah. Borrow an external drive.

Up for anyone who wants it.

[5mn_Major]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

My Swedish guy uses Heritage instead of Ancestry. Not sure if that is maybe more popular there. My GGF changed his name when he moved here and his relatives did too. What a mess. I let the Swede do all the work and just tag a long.

Half German/half Norwegian. My grandfather once said 'feel free to marry blacks, Hispanics, Asians, whoever you want...just do NOT marry a Swede'.

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Half German/half Norwegian. My grandfather once said 'feel free to marry blacks, Hispanics, Asians, whoever you want...just do NOT marry a Swede'.

Ha. We lived in a melting pot. I was told do not marry a Catholic- I did anyway