Swedish names and searching in Sweden
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In reply to:
Re: Pehr Bengtsson 1819
Elizabeth Ballard 8/13/08
Your ancestor's name is EXCEEDINGLY common.
If Nils Petter Johan Bengtsson was the father of a man born in 1845 or so, then HE (Nils Petter Johan) used patronymic customs because he was born 20-30 years or more before 1845. Bengtsson means Bengt's son, the son of Bengt and we don't know Bengt's last name. The patronymic name of a son of Nils Petter Johan Bengtsson would have been Nilsson (Nils' son, son of Nils). Daughters of Nils Petter Johan Bengtsson would have been Nilsdotter = Nils' daughter, daughter of Nils. (It is also possible that Nils Petter Johan preferred using Petter or Johan instead, and if so, his sons would have been Pettersson or Johansson. Daughters would have been Pettersdotter or Johansdotter. People with several given names often were called by just one and the first one listed was not necessarily the name they were known by.)
Nils Petter Johan Bengtsson could not have been the son of Peter Bengtson. Nils Petter Johan would have had a last name of Petersson (Peter's son, son of Peter and we don't know Peter's last name.) Peter Bengtsson was called Bengtsson (Bengt's son, son of Bengt and we don't know Bengt's last name.)
NO ONE in Sweden would have been baptised with a given name of "son of Bengt: Bengtsson" or "Nelson, an Americanized version of Nilsson = Nils' son, son of Nils". Those are patronymic names and he would have been provided a GIVEN name with no "son" at the end. Swedes didn't generally use their patronymic names like permanent family names at that time period.
It is a myth that the people at immigration changed names. The papers they traveled with were prepared in their home country by a priest in the parish and that priest obviously spoke Swedish. The people at the port when they left Sweden also spoke Swedish. The various receiving stations (such as Castle Garden, the Barge Office, and Ellis Island in New York, depending upon the time period; and at other ports) hired many interpreters who looked at the papers and knew the language and so there was no problem at all with names at that point of time. Many of our ancestors did Americanize or totally change their names but that was later.
Since you don't have specific information, your first task is to gather information in the U.S. The "mid-1800s" is very vague. What does that mean? You can find a year of immigration in the U.S. Federal Censuses for 1900-1910-1920-1930.
When was he born, specifically? The 1900 U.S. Federal Census provides a month and year of birth. Death certificates and obituaries and church records and more should provide a better idea of when he was born. His marriage APPLICATION probably has useful information and maybe that includes his age, where he came from in Sweden, and even names of parents.
What censuses has he been found in? That helps get an idea of when he was in the U.S.
I know the name of the supposed father but who was your great maternal grandfather? I guess you think he was called Nelson or Nilsson Bengtsson changed to Nelson Benjamin but those names are impossible in Sweden (Nelson Bengtsson means son of Nels (really Nils), son of Bengt: as if the mother didn't know who the father of her son was and so chose both men, just in case)
Look at this page to see the type of information you need to find to have any chance of finding ancestors in Sweden.I think you are trying to find that information too soon. In genealogy we need to work from certainty to certainty and not from guess to guess. Otherwise we will end up researching the wrong lines.
http://www.genealogi.se/roots/krav.htmhttp://www.genealogi.se/roots/krav.htm
The above site recommends the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center. I do too. That archive is superb, but they don't have online records. We need to go there to research or pay them to research for us. It would be best if you did more U.S. research in censuses, etc. before doing that.
Make sure you study carefully the section on the above site which explains Swedish names.
Also, that "will" (if from Sweden) is a VERY important clue. I suggest that you scan it and ask for help reading the relationships and finding clues to locations, etc. Do that asking on the Sweden forum. Type Sweden into the "Jump to Forum" space at the top right of this page.
Judy
More Replies:
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Re: Swedish names and searching in Sweden
Elizabeth Ballard 8/14/08