Book Reviews
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Swedish American Genealogist Volume 34 | Number 1 Article 12 3-1-2014 Book Reviews Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag Part of the Genealogy Commons, and the Scandinavian Studies Commons Recommended Citation (2014) "Book Reviews," Swedish American Genealogist: Vol. 34 : No. 1 , Article 12. Available at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag/vol34/iss1/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Augustana Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Swedish American Genealogist by an authorized editor of Augustana Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Book Reviews Here you will find information about interesting books on the immigration experience, genealogical manuals, books on Swedish customs, and much more. We welcome contacts with SAG readers, suggestions on books to review perhaps. If you want to review a book yourself, ylease contact the SAG Editor, at <[email protected]> so we know what you are working on. immigration, and destination, with A family story information and photos of most of the A poet's view ships they traveled on. Following this Swedish Ancestry of Bruce William are several background sections of Sweden Anderson, Bonnie Lynne (Anderson) about the historic origins of the Black, and Keith Vincent Anderson, Swedes, the migration experience, by Bruce William Anderson, 2012, and related information about Swe- Enchantment Adventyr. H.C.A. & I self-published, hardcover, 425 den. Direct ancestor pedigree charts, understand. A Swedish Genealogical pages. More information from the Fairytale, by Carol Elizabeth Skog. some more complete than others, Hardcover, 92 pages, illustrated. author at then chart the dates and locations of <[email protected]> Published by NordicScripts, Fairfield, the ancestry of each of these in CT 06824. ISBN 978-0-9899270-1- Sweden. Individuals on each chart 7. More information from the author This book is about the ancestry of are assigned numbers in the cus- at <[email protected]> three siblings, including the author, tomary fashion, and a page is pro- Bruce William Anderson, of Niles, vided with detailed information This is quite an unusual book, a Michigan. Most personal genealogies about each individual. Supplemental mixture between a travelogue and a are not reviewed by SAG since their information about these persons and fairytale, about the author's experi- appeal is limited to the particular families occupies the next section, ences while looking for her ancestors families that are included and are with many photographs and brief in Smaland. unlikely to have broader appeal to biographies wherever available. It starts out with her as a small other readers. This genealogy is an Churches in Sweden attended by child deciding that when she was especially complete, thorough, and direct ancestors are listed, with color grown she firmly decided on going to well-organized example which could photos of nearly all and information Sweden. She tells how she found it well serve as a model for those who about their construction and fea- difficult to get her classmates and wish to organize and publish the tures, including several interesting teachers to pronounce her short sur- results of their research of their own interiors, pulpits, altars, or other fea- name Skog correctly, which further families. tures. The genealogy ends with a nurtured her wish to go back to the The author begins by listing those complete compilation of sources and Old Country. thirteen direct ancestors who immi- an index of all the persons named in As an adult her wish is fulfilled, grated to the United States from the genealogy. An appendix adds the and one of her main goals is to meet Sweden and includes their relation- findings of the author's DNA results. with Count Gustaf Carlssson Bonde ship, their parish of birth, year of This volume will be added to the and his wife at Bordsjo in Smaland, collection of the Swenson Center at near Aneby, owners of the estate that Augustana College in Rock Island, the author's great-grandfather man- SALE! Illinois. aged for the Bonde family. Swedish Voters in Dennis L. Johnson Somehow she gets lost on a small country road in the deep forests with Chicago 1888 four flats tires, and at once feels the By Nils William Olsson presence of the skogsrd (the beautiful 302 pages of Swedes, but treacherous wood sprite). She comments, and indexes. had long blonde hair, but below her $10 +$5S&H hollow back a fox tail showed. Next, the skogsrd sent the author Contact Jill Seaholm at on her way into a time tunnel, and <[email protected]> she lands beside the Askeryd church at Easter time in 1865. The author 26 Swedish American Genealogist 2014:1 Book Reviews bought by his ancestor Mans Bonde H.C. A. is the abbreviation for Danish in 1491, a fact which is astonishing author Hans Christian Andersen, to to this visitor from the New World. whom the author also feels a connec- The count also shows her account tion. books, kept by her morfar's farfar, The book ends with a couple of which again impresses her and gives addenda, of varying value. Some her a feeling of connection with her words are given explanations, not sees all the people, but soon finds out ancestors. always quite correct. Some recipes that they do not see her. This is a very unusual book, and are also added. At the end is the story Quite unhistorically she sees the maybe not for everyone, but it is still of how the author made contact with women of the parish carry baskets interesting to see how an American her Swedish relatives, and some tips offastlagsbullar (cardamom buns) to tries to understand life in Sweden in on Swedish genealogy, where some church, where they are served with the old days. The illustrations by the are useful, and other outdated. milk on a long table outside the author add to the understanding of Elisabeth Thorsell church in the early spring.. her adventure. (The Swedish word is She also suddenly sees her own aventyr, but the author wanted to morfars's farfar Carl Johan Carlsson, keep the link to the English word). the steward for the Bonde family, but does not understand why he does not answer her greetings, because she is still invisible. She is worrying how Add to your family history to get out of the spell and make her able to visit with the current count Learn what Sweden and America were like Bonde? when your ancestors emigrated Suddenly she is transferred to Midsummer 1872, and now takes an Join the Swedish-American unseen part in the festivities, and also sees her morfar's far. Historical Society Finally she is released by the skogsra, and gets to go on her ap- Four issues a year of the Swedish-American pointment with the Bondes, who tell Historical Quarterly, plus dividend books her a lot of the local history, for instance that the manorial estate was The Society' latest book is Conrad Bergendoff's Faith and Work: A Swedish-American Lutheran, 1895-1997, by Thomas Tredway. For more information, write Swedish-American Historical Society 3225 W. Foster, Box 48 Chicago IL, 60625 or see www.swedishamericanhist.org Mention the Genealogist when you join or order books Swedish American Genealogist 2014:1 27 Book Reviews 'distinct area of Vastmanland and Dalarna, but also other places known as Varmland bergslag, and Ostergot- land bergslag, for instance, all being areas where metal ore was mined, and where metal implements, small or large, were made. In the introductory chapter, the Iron made the story of the Engelbrekt uprising, starting in Norberg in the 1400s, is told, as well as how early mining and localities early metal working methods have Of Man and Iron. Ekomuseum been discovered by excavating the old Bergslagen's Tales from a region, a metal ovens. guidebook, edited by Christina Lind- quist and Britt-Marie Hagerman. One chapter is named "From Iron Softcover, 192 pages, printed in Ore to Pig Iron" and another tells the 2011. ISBN 978-91-633-8581-0. Link story about "Iron Foundries — Iron- on p. 30. works - Steel works." The area has by no means died out as there are This book is invaluable for anyone still steelworks in, for instance, who wants to discover the hidden tourist organization, Westmanna- Domnarvet in Borlange. treasures in the iron mining and turism. It brought together some 50 There is a map in front of this book ironworks area in Vastmanland and (today over 60) heritage sites, which that shows the locations of the mu- parts of Dalarna, which was a very are run by volunteers belonging to seums, each with a number. The book important area in the old days. The various local heritage associations goes by municipalities: Ludvika, iron ore and the iron products from (hembygdsforeningar). Smedjebacken, Norberg, Fagersta, the mines, blast furnaces, and iron This guidebook tells the stories of Skinnskatteberg, and Hallstaham- works was for centuries what Swe- these more than 60 members. mar. It starts with a brief description of den exported all over the world, and For each municipality the local what is meant by Bergslagen, this was the mainstay of the Swedish museums are described with maps, economy. During the centuries the indus- tries and mines had their ups and downs, but many buildings still remain. When they were abandoned because of new techniques, they were often not torn down, but just left to wither away. But in the 1980s people finally began to realize that they were important places that told of the history of the people in days gone by.