no 9 2010-09 ROOTED IN

Genealogy Workshop spreading the word at my workplace

Mini theme: Naming traditions

Grimeton Radio Station

The Swenson Center | DISCOUNT contents Swedish naming traditions 3 15

Swedgen Tour 2010 5

Christening traditions 6

The Swenson Center 7 16 5

Grimeton Radio Station 10

Discount 15 7

Genealogy workshop 16

The Digital Race 18

firstly... 10

I would like to express my regrets that the Summer issue of Rooted in Sweden for various reasons has tur- ned into an Autumn issue. For all Rooted readers, I hope it has been a Summer of rest, relaxation and re- search. 19 This issue contains a kind of mini whereas Summercloud, Mango and kept by the next generation. The typi- theme with a focus on names. Names Puma have been approved. cal soldier’s names were later spread are of course at the centre of all ge- to the trades people of the parish, the nealogy, and essential to a successful A century ago, and before that it taylor and the blacksmith and so on. research is the understanding of the was easier to change your name. The naming tradition. In recent years, that other day, my boss told me about her My family name is a typical soldier’s is the last century or so, the naming ancestor who wanted to pick a family name adopted, not by a soldier but tradition has changed with the disap- name, and chose the same name as by a forest ranger, and inherited by pearance of patronymicons. People the village blacksmith, because he generation after generation since the no longer inherit their father´s first liked the name. For us this would 1770’s. name in their surname, and the likes be unthinkable. I wonder what the of Persson, Svensson and Nilsson are blacksmith thought! I hope this will be an enlightening used as family names, generation af- theme and that it will help you all in ter generation. There are rules that The soldier’s name is something eve- your quest for relatives of the past. If say what names you can and cannot ry genealogist will encounter sooner you have any questions, don’t hesitate adopt, and a board that makes deci- or later. These were used to tell the to contact me at [email protected]. If I sions in each case. You cannot take Hans Hanssons and the Nils Nilssons can’t answer, I’ll guide you to some existing names or brandnames. App- apart. Normally they would no longer one who can. legate and Winslet have been rejected use their soldier’s name after the dis- Joachim Schönström as they are names of famous actors, missal, but in many cases they were

2 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • September 2010 text: Joachim Schönström images: SwedishBertil naming traditions Landegren

text: Olof Cronberg Knowing the Swedish naming tra- cords (“döpt hemma för dess svag- pulation, names such as Mikael and ditions is very helpful in tracing hets skull – baptized at home due to Henrik are more common. They are your ancestors. As the topic is weakness”). rare in southern Sweden. often discussed and ever present, it’s time for a repeat of an article In the rural parishes, the children There are also differences in time. from an earlier Rooted in Sweden, usually received only one name, The name Per was common in 1700, no 3 from 2006. while in the towns and in 19th cen- but was replaced by Peter or Petter tury, it was more and more common in 1800. Later the name is not unu- The given or first names, the child- with two or three names. Below are sual, but not on the top ten list. In the ren received at the baptism. Usual- lists of the most common names at same way, the female name Sissela, ly, it took place within one or two different years. The name lists 1700, became Sissa which became Cecilia. weeks. If it was a long way to church 1800 & 1900 are extracted from or in later 19th century, it could take those birth years in the DISBYT There were no exact rules. The child a longer time to get baptized. If the database. The names from 2000 are could be named after a deceased child was considered to be in poor from Statistics Sweden. relative, or a prominent witness, or condition, the child could be bapti- just have a popular name. However, zed at home, but the normal proce- When doing research in Sweden, there are some rules seen very often. dure was in church. If baptized at you realize that there are naming home, it is noted in the church re- differences in Sweden. Some 1. If a widower or widow remar- 1700 1800 1900 2000 names are more common in ried, the next child of the correct sex Anna Anna Maria Julia northern Sweden and other inherited the name of the deceased Kerstin Maria Anna Emma names in southern Sweden. husband or wife. Examples of male names Karin Brita Elisabet Wilma 2. If a child died, it is common that Brita Stina Ingeborg Hanna more common in Skåne in southern Sweden: Jöns, Jep- the next child of the same sex inhe- Margareta Katarina Margareta Elin pe, Mårten, Truls. In Central rited the name of their older sibling. Maria Kristina Kristina Linnéa Sweden Jöns would be Jon 3. If a son receives the name of the Katarina Kajsa Rut Amanda or Johan, and Mårten would grandfather without being the first Elisabet Kerstin Linnéa Ida be Martin. Jeppe and Truls child, you will often find that the Sara Greta Ester Matilda are uncommon. In areas of grandfather has died in the year be- Ingeborg Margareta Elsa Moa Sweden with a Finnish po- fore the child’s birth.

September 2010 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • 3 If there is more than one child with Maria Persdotter, his name 1700 1800 1900 2000 the same given name in a family, it could be Anders Persson, Anders Anders Karl Filip is likely that the older child has died. but in some cases he still Per Petter Johan Oscar Rarely there could be more than one got his father’s first name as Olof Nils Erik William child with the same name. I have a patronymic. I have seen seen it once in Skåne and once on examples where the father’s Nils Erik Gustav Viktor Gotland. The reason is then that the first name was so rare, so Erik Olof Oskar Simson younger child is named after another there was no doubt about Lars Johan Nils Anton relative than the first child. who the father was. In most Johan Johannes Axel Erik cases, it is hard to guess Sven Lars Gunnar Alexander There are two main types of surna- the father of an illegitimate Jöns Karl Olof Emil mes: patronymics and family names. child based on a patrony- Hans Jonas Jon/John Lucas The patronymics changed for every mic name. generation and were not converted Another population group changing to family names until late 19th cen- Patronymics were dropped earlier surnames were the soldiers. They tury. Surnames ending with –son in the towns and replaced by family got soldier’s names when they were or –dotter are patronymics, for ex- names. I have seen a few cases in recruited. At some period, the na- ample Andersson and Andersdotter. 18th century where the patronymic mes were created as above, but at The daughters were called Anders- name was used as an inherited fa- other periods they were just adjec- dotter, which simply means Anders’ mily name. However, it is very rare tives such as Stark (Strong), Frisk daughter just as Andersson means that women uses a surname ending (Healthy), Ståhl (Steel) or Envis

Example of the use Olof Jonasson In this case Anders surname is Eriksson, because of patronymics 1745-1802 his father’s first name was Erik. Although Erik Erik Olofsson Brita Persdotter during a period used Hörberg as a surname his Hörberg 1747-1793 son didn’t adopt that name. The reason was 1778-1838 that Hörberg was a soldier’s name, which Erik Anders Eriksson Olof Månsson received when he was a soldier for Horsby 1810-1856 1752-1782 Kvädaregård, Tarsled parish. (Can anybody Maria Olofsdotter guess why he used Hörberg and not Horberg 1780-1855 Kirstin Bengtsdotter as a surname?). Maria used the surname Olofs- 1755-1782 dotter, not because her husband was an Olofs- son, but since her father’s first name was Olof.

Anders’ son. The surname of the with –son before the end of the 19th (Stubborn). Sometimes they were child thus depended on the father’s century, so if I see a womn called funnier: Alltidglad (Always happy) given name. The normal spelling of Andersson before 1870, I would as- or Näsvis (Cheeky). These names the -son names are with two s’s as sume it to be an error until proven were used during the time they were opposed to the tradition in America, otherwise. soldiers. Often the following soldier thus Andersson and not Anderson. inherited the surname, but not al- When creating a family name, one ways the children. I am a descendant Of course, this was a problem if often used a part of the place that of a soldier called Per Näsvis (where the child was born illegitimate. In one was from and added another Näsvis was derived from the villa- the birth record the child’s surname element. Family names from Mal- ge Näsby), but for some reason his is seldom written. Sometimes the mö could be Malmberg, Malmborg, children didn’t use the surname… child’s surname was just a modifi- Malmqvist, Malmgren, Malmstedt cation of the mother’s surname. If or Öberg, Öman or Ögren. Anders was an illegitimate son of

4 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • September 2010 Swedgen Tour 2010

text: Charlotte Börjesson

Have you hit a brick wall in your • Friday, October 8, The Swedish tour participants will Swedish research or don’t know Philadelphia, Pennsylvania be Anneli Andersson, Anna-Lena where to begin? Free Library of Philadelphia Hultman, Charlotte Börjesson and 1901, Vine Street Siv Bergman. Kathy Meade, the A group of Swedish genealogists • Sunday, October 10, U.S. representative for Genline will be touring the United States Lanse, Pennsylvania will also be accompanying the this October to teach and assist Holy Trinity Evangelical group. Swedish-Americans in how to find Lutheran Church their roots and how to do Swe- 1167, Maple Street More information about the work- dish research. shops and the lectures will be av- The group will lead a Swedish ailable at: The group, SWEDGENTOUR, genealogy research day that will www.swedgentour.dis.se/2010 has been successful in helping include presentations and demon- many individuals get started with strations on how to use the various Here you will also find informa- their research as well as breaking resources for Swedish genealogi- tion about how to sign up for a down many brick walls. This year cal and historical research. There one-on-one session. the group will make the following will be presentations of Swedish stops: genealogical online resources, • Saturday, October 2, Swedish genealogical CDs and Worcester, Massachusetts Swedish emigration. There will Worcester Public Library also be a preregistration for those 3, Salem Square who want to have individual re- search help.

September 2010 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • 5 not be present at the church Christening traditions christening as swedish class she was not “Kyrktagning” – yet churched. churching of women It wasn’t app- ropriate for the In Sweden, the churching of father either to women after birth remained a be present. Ins- custom until the late 1880s. tead, the family With its origin in the Old Tes- was represented tament, the mother, after giving by the godpa- birth, was regarded as being im- rents. Usually, pure. For six weeks she was not the godparents allowed to visit church or work were close re- outdoors. latives to the After six weeks the priest was family, such as notified and the ceremony of siblings to the welcoming the mother back to parents or the text: the parish community took place child’s grand- Joachim Schönström before the ordinary Sunday ser- parents. This is image: vice. Svenska kyrkan a good thing to have in mind Unwed mothers had to endure The traditions of the christening when you’re looking for clues in a different mid-week churching are rooted in the ancient supersti- the search for a missing person where they weren’t allowed to tions of pre-Christian times. Even in your research. The Godparents take the priest by the hand and in modern days, the notion of fate are often stated in the bigth books had to kneel directly on the hard is connected to giving birth to a with names, occupations and home church floor instead of a stuffed child. residence. Watch out though, the stool. godparents might just as well be In the peasant tradition it was im- neighbours of the family. portant to stay friends with desti- ny and there were numerous ways of protecting the child during the pregnancy. And after the child was Join the DIS Society! born candles had to burn all night Are you still not a member of the DIS Society? in every room, and a piece of metal should be kept in the cradle to pro- The DIS Society is the Computer Genealogy Society of Sweden and pro- tect the child until it was christe- duces this e-zine Rooted in Sweden. As a member you will also get ac- ned. Through the christening the cess to the DISBYT database with over 22 millon records, which covers evil spirits of paganism lost its a third of the total population who lived in Sweden before 1910. You will powers over the child. A child also get access to DISPOS, which is a tool to make it easier to find in- that died un-christened was lost to dexes to sources. eternal bliss. We are already more than 27,000 members. You are also welcome to join the DIS Society. Annual fee: USD 18,- including e-zine Rooted In olden days, the child had to be in Sweden. USD 24,- including the Swedish magazine Diskulogen. christened within eight days after its birth, according to church laws. www.dis.se/english/ This meant that the mother could

6 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • September 2010 The Swenson Center - a great facility for Swedish-American genealogists

text and images: Elisabeth Thorsell The Denkmann building at Augustana College Campus - the home of the Swenson Center

One of the important resource the heritage left to the younger ge- and research institute providing centers for Swedish-American ge- nerations of Swedish-Americans resources for the study of Swedish nealogy is situated in Rock Island, from their elders. immigration to North America, Illinois, and is in short called the the communities the immigrants Swenson Center. Editor of Swe- The Swenson Center has been lo- established, and the role the immi- dish American Genealogist (SAG), cated since the Elisabeth Thorsell is well acquain- start on the ted with the Swenson Center and campus of Au- gives us a short introduction. gustana Col- lege in Rock The Swenson Swedish Immigra- Island, Illinois, tion Research Center (SSIRC) or and has grown just “Swenson Center” was foun- by donations ded in 1982 by a donation from of money and Birger Swenson, former CEO of archival docu- the Augustana Book Concern, and ments and book his wife Lyal. Birger and his wife c ol l e c t i o n s . did not have any children, but felt The Swenson strongly that an institution was Center is a na- A Swedish-American newspaper from the archives. needed to research and take care of tional archive

September 2010 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • 7 grants and their descendants have Olsson, PhD., played in American life. This is the grand old achieved by promoting and initia- man of Swe- ting academic research in the field dish-American and by collecting and cataloging history in the Swedish-American archival and U.S. Dr Olsson library materials. Another major donated most of role for the Center is to assist pe- his huge library ople researching their Swedish- and archives to American family history. the Swenson Center. He and Academic conferences have been his wife Dag- sponsored or co-sponsored by the mar also dona- Center on a continuing basis sin- ted money to ce 1987. Many of the conferences a scholarship Head of Genealogical Services Jill Seaholm have been documented in book fund, The Dag- form or in academic journals. mar and Nils William Olsson Re- for the study of Swedish immigra- search Fellowship, which is awar- tion to North America, the Center One of the big supporters of the ded once every year to a graduate has over the years gathered an ex- Swenson Center was Nils William scholar, and enables this person to tensive collection of books, perio- spend a couple dicals and newspapers published of weeks at the for and by Swedish immigrants Swenson Cen- during the mass emigration period ter doing re- of 1840-1930. These publications search in the ar- promoted and encouraged the use chives and the of the Swedish language in chur- book collection. ches, organizations and among The scholarship other social groups throughout the is not open to United States and Canada. genealogists. The archival holdings at the Swen- The Swenson son Center reflect the Swedish im- Center’s library migrant experience in North Ame- collection con- rica and includes a wide range of tains approx- personal papers such as diaries, imately 20,000 journals and correspondence of volumes rela- Swedish immigrants and clergy ting to the Swe- active in the Augustana Synod. dish-American The Center’s archival holdings i m m i g r a n t also contain photographs, organi- experience in zational and lodge records. North America, Swedish genea- Included in the archives is also a logy, and Swe- great collection of pictures, which dish local histo- can be searched online. ry. To support Excerpt from N.W. Olsson’s scrapbook its main mis- For many genealogists the most with a letter from Swedish prince Bertil sion of provi- useful part of the Swenson Center ding resources is the collection of microfilms of

8 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • September 2010 the Swedish-Amercan churches, of Swedish-American many hundreds of rolls. They can genealogy, but also be searched by visiting the Swen- publishing news about son Center or by mailing a Re- what is happening in search Request that can be found the genealogy field in on their web site. Sweden.

An important part of the Swenson Center is the quarterly publication Swedish American Genealogist (SAG) founded in 1981 by Dr. Ols- son, and geared towards all aspects Researchers in the research room The Swenson Center Dag Blanck - Director Christina Johansson - Head of Library and Archival Services All of them speak and read Swedish! Jill Seaholm - Head of Genealogical Services Susanne Titus, Library and Genealogical Services Associate Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center Web site Augustana College www.augustana.edu/x13856.xml 639, 38th Street Picture collection Rock Island, IL 61201-2296 E-Mail www.augustana.pastperfect-online. Tel: (309) 794-7204 Fax: (309) 794-7443 [email protected] com/36000cgi/mweb.exe? in short...

Ancestry Magazine Discontinues Publication Ancestry magazine has been around for 25 years as a valuable resource for genealogists. Over the past few years, the staff at the ma- gazine has found that, with the expanded accessibility of family history content publis- hed online at Ancestry.com, they can reach a larger and broader audience than the limited distribution of a print publication. Single copies of past issues, will be available for purchase in the online store. They are also Ancestry + Genline available electronically, at Google Books: This summer, Ancestry.com acquired Genline AB. www.books.google.com According to Ancestry.com, evaluations have started as to how the extensive historical docu- In the press release, the staff wish to thank ments will be made available to subscribers. So the readers and contributors for sharing their far no changes have been made. More informa- enthusiasm for all things genealogy. tion on this will be presented as it develops.

September 2010 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • 9 text: Grimeton Radio Station Lars G Johansson images: Grimeton World Heritage

In a small parish in northern Hal- ritage is considered to be so im- Italian Guglielmo Marconi, under- land, with the curious sounding portant that it can be mentioned took the experiments with wire- name Grimeton, a radio station is with places like Machu Pichu, less transmission of information situated. It was built in the 1920’s Skara Brae, the pyramids of Egypt from a place in Cornwall, Eng- for long wave , prima- and the Chinese wall? And what land, called Poldhu. That is where rily across the Atlantic. on earth does this world heritage have to do with genealogy? The parish name Grimeton seems The first thread to have its roots in an Anglo-saxon naming tradition, but it derives To find out the answers to these from the Old Norse name for farm: questions, we have to widen our tun. The Grime tun should be the scope a bit, and start investigating origin. Who Grim was, we will some threads from the end of the probably never find out. 19th century. The first thread in- volves a few engineers of the rather We know more about Grimeton young technology of electronics, Radio Station. It has been decla- who had begun to understand that an historic building and is also electricity in different ways could one of the 14 Swedish cultural he- be used to create , invi- ritage sites that have been listed on sible wave movements, with which UNESCO’s list of sites judged as you could send information, at priceless for humanity. least shorter distances.

How is that? How can it be that At the turn of the century, the most a relatively modern industrial he- prominent figure in this work, the

10 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • September 2010 he, through his Marconi Wireless small town of Porthcurno, there today, both techniques live on in Telegraph Company, had built a was already a telegraph company, harmony, side by side. The cable station for “the big experiment”, Eastern Telegraph Company, es- traffic still holds the biggest part in a wireless trans- tablished in 1876. Transatlantic communication, now mission across the ”So, at 16.00 on The founder, Sir with fiber optics. Atlantic. Earlier, 12th December 1901 John Pender, was he had established involved in the vast So, at 16.00 on 12th December that it was quite it was time...” project of laying an 1901 it was time; at the receiving possible to trans- underwater wire station in St John’s New Found- mit wireless signals to recipients between Europe and America. land, Marconi and his helpers re- beyond the horizon, contrary to A functioning Atlantic cable had ceive the letter S, with the three the predictions of the great mat- been laid out in 1866 and Pender short signals of the Morse alpha- hematicians of the time. Radio now saw the opportunity to make bet. The great experiment was a signals were thought of as linear big money through continued success and the tests were later and, according to the expertise, projects, such as a cable to India. repeated both between sea and on would simply disappear into space Naturally, he did not approve of shore stations. The skeptics had to because of earth’s curvature. As it Marconi’s experiments with wire- bow for the facts. The wireless te- turned out, this was not the case, less telegraphy. A technology he legraph could start its victory pa- even if Marconi himself probably regarded as a lethal competition to rade across the world. did not entirely understand how his profitable cables.

Memorial of Guglielmo Marconi in Poldhu

it worked. Now it was vital for The battle was legendary! Pen- Together with the German phy- him to find a place as far west as der set up a spy station (wireless, sicist Karl Ferdinand Braun, the possible, with open sea towards ironically!) a short distance from inventor of the cathode-ray tube, northern America. Poldhu to find out what the Italian Marconi received the Nobel Prize was up to, and Marconi did what in 1909. Just eight years after the Land’s End, the westernmost point he could not to reveal anything to great experiment, the world clearly of England, seemed like an app- the cable people. In reality, they had accepted and grasped the sco- ropriate site for the purpose. But were never serious competitors pe of Marconi’s invention. there was a catch: there, in the despite the initial cock fight. Even

September 2010 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • 11 The second thread is about the which gives us a picture of the munications, that The Great War quick response to the new wireless range of the military resources of had caused, common people on technique. Even the people in po- the time. More importantly pro- both sides of the Atlantic had be- wer in Sweden, quickly realized bably, was that from this part of come a lobby group pushing for the advantages of the technique of the west coast of Sweden, you had a modernization of communica- the new times. The breakthrough more or less open water, no land tions. came in 1920. This is when the masses and no obstructing moun- parliament voted for the building tains on the great circle across to Never before had the need for fun- of a “great radio station” for elec- New York. ctioning communications been tronic wireless communication greater, and never before had the- between the mother land and the There, on Long Island, was the re been a way of communicating ever more important United States mother station of the world wide faster than four weeks, accept of of America. network of long wave stations that course for the vulnerable Atlantic the inventor, Swedish-American cable. Marconi’s invention turned The reason for this grand invest- Ernst Alexandersson, had started four weeks into four seconds! Has ment in a new technique was that building. From Poland in the east someone ever taken a greater step World War I, in a very tangible to Hawaii in the west, the world in the history of human contact? way, had shown the vulnerabi- was connected through his long In comparison, the cellular phone lity of the cable network. Sweden wave generator, the so called alter- is pretty modest; after all it is just was connected to the States via nator. an extension of the Marconi’s idea. England, and to other parts of the world via a cable to Germany and so on. The warring nations had quickly cut these connections. During the war years, Sweden was virtually cut off.

The enormous economical deve- lopment of USA and the rest of North America, had a growing in- fluence on the “old world” and for Sweden to be isolated from this development was not acceptable.

In 1920 the parliament granted a sum of nearly five million Swe- Telegraphist Lars Kålland transmits a morse dish kronor, about 78 million in message with the old today’s value ($11 million), for the building of this great radio station The third thread on the subject is A phone call to USA now takes as that would make the country inde- of course more known in genea- long as directly after the building pendent from the cable network of logy circles and perhaps does not of the radio station in 1925, even other countries. The Grimeton site require a description in so many the delay is still there! was selected for both military and words. To the great country in geographical reasons. the west, a significant part of the All this combined is what has made nation’s population, had moved – Grimeton what it is. It was the first This site, 15 km from the coast, or escaped – primarily during the opportunity of Swedes and Swe- was regarded as protected from latter part of the 19th century. Be- dish-Americans to contact each possible naval attacks, a strategy cause of the interruption of com- other quickly. Sure, it was expen-

12 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • September 2010 sive, and by our standards today, the receiver would be. The tele- sage to humanity from the UN complicated, but, what are you not grams would have a minimum of secretary general Ban Ki Moon. prepared to do to tell the parents ten words. These sums may seam This transmission is intercepted back in the old country that they small, but five kronor at this time by enthusiasts across the world. have become grand parents? Or would be about 125 today. They often send confirmations that a beloved family member has Of the once world wide network of that they heard us and tell us what passed away? This was probably long wave stations, only Grimeton kind of they have used, worth a few dollars. is left. The technique is the same how the sound quality was, and so as at the grand opening in 1925, on. In our times’ social media, like To make even short life signs at a only a bit more worn after many YouTube, they submit clips of their reasonable cost possible, standar- years in operation, and it is still reception. dized telegrams fully functional. with fixed rates ”What about the Ger- This is what has There has not been much research were made at put Grimeton on on the traffic from Grimeton Ra- Christmas time. man legation? Was the UNESCO list dio Station. One can imagine that Such a telegram Grimeton a gateway of world heritage, it has been particularly important could be sent the only commu- in times of unrest, especially since to the USA for to the rest of the world nication heritage. the isolation during The Great War just five Swe- even for Germany was the main reason for its exis- dish kronor (80 On a few oc- tence. But who were they who nor- cents). To Cuba that, like the rest of casions every mally took advantage of the new or Mexico it the warring nations, year, the Gri- technique? What was the extent of would be 7,50 meton radio sta- the private traffic? and 8 kronor. were rather isolated?” tion friendship Other types of society, Alexan- The emigrants and their relatives telegrams to America would cost der, turns on the . For in the home country had been an around half a krona per word, de- example on UN day every year, important lobby group for better pending on where in the country Grimeton radio transmits a mes- communications between Ame- rica and the old country. In an official capaci- ty, the transmit- ter had surely been frequently used. During World War II, when the radio station enjoyed a second period of greatness, was it only the Swedish go- vernment that had access to the transmitter?

One can ima- The heart of the station in 1925: gine that the the long wave generator British embassy

September 2010 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • 13 also took a great interest in secu- for example with Telegraph Mu- Today, the radio station is open for ring the connection to the USA. seum in Porthcurno, Cornwall, but the public all year round. During What about the German legation? there is so much more to be done. the summer months, our visitors’ Was Grimeton a gateway to the We at Grimeton Radio Station are centre is open daily, with several rest of the world even for Ger- especially interested in reaching guided tours of the facility. The many that, like the rest of the war- those with knowledge on telegram rest of the year we arrange guided ring nations, were rather isolated? communication between Swedes tours for pre-booked groups. And, not least, what civilian con- and their emigrant relatives. Such tacts were done through Grime- an addition of information could All genealogists are especially ton, even in war times. We do not mean a lot for the research on the welcome, and all Swedish-Ameri- know today. station. cans will of course be treated to a cup of coffee on their visit! A foundation for research on ci- vilian communication is contacts with the public who used telegrap- Alexander hy. I do not think the archives will The association Alexander was During summer the station is reveal much on this matter. If any founded in 1996 by earlier em- shown to the public in co-ope- archive items survived the test of ployees at the radio station and ration with the Tourist time it would be those of official by persons interested in indu- Office. During other seasons concern. stry and culture history in order the station is shown to groups to keep and bring to life the old by agreement. The members of Research in this area is required, technique. In study circles and Alexander are in charge of the as well as systematic information working groups personal ability arrangements as to guiding and exchange with other institutions, to attend and run service. museums, authorities and others and machinery is being develo- www.grimeton.org involved in these matters. A few ped and passed on to others. www.alexander.n.se tentative efforts have been made,

Grimeton visitors’ centre

14 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • September 2010 Discount

text: Olof Cronberg translation: Joachim Schönström

Discount is a statistical chart of The database is now updated with the Swedish naming tradition. the names present in the Disbyt database at Nov 1, 2009. Currently, With its 22,2 million records of the database consists of names for people living before 1910, the DIS- 10,5 million unique individuals. BYT database makes up almost half of the Swedish historical po- These are the features available to- pulation. It also makes a splendid day. In the future, we will be able statistical base. The feature Dis- to add more functions. If you have count is built on these statistics. any ideas, please send an email to In Disount you can see how com- [email protected]. mon different names were in earlier times. You can watch the of the name vary from decade to decade between 1600 and 1900. You can also see the va- riations in different parts of Swe- den. Every unique person is coun- ted once on the year he or she was born. The most common names are normalized to current spelling.

Discount works for given names as well as family names and patro- nymics. County for county you get statistics for the chosen name. A top list is included for given names and surnames.

September 2010 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • 15 Genealogy workshop - spreading the word at my workplace

text and images: Joachim Schönström

For some time now, I’ve thought pected ones, like ten pin bowling, ties to evaluate their response to it. about the possibility of introdu- billiards and go-karting. Once in a So, I did feel pretty confident, and cing genealogy to friends and fa- while we try to do something dif- finally I gathered the courage to mily, and how to go about it. Last ferent, like wine tasting and a visit suggest a genealogy workshop. spring, I decided to try it at my to the theatre. As I have a slightly The response was better than I ex- work place, and it turned out to different background to my col- pected. Those who couldn’t make be a great success story. leagues, with a it were very sorry humanist edu- ”At first, they were all to miss the chan- I work at a technical consultant firm cation, I try to frustrated by the ma- ce, and we ended called WSP. WSP is a global com- do my bit and up being 12 par- pany with some 10,000 employees. arrange more nual searching. They’re ticipants, inclu- 2,200 of these work in Sweden. In “c u l t i v a t e d ” all spoiled by the pre- ding two descen- my unit in Malmö, Skåne, we are events. dants from Irak about 20. We have a very open cli- cise searchability of the and Hong Kong mate at my workplace. There is an For some time google era.” respectively, with unwritten policy stating that we I have thought no chance of focus on having fun at work. To about the possibility of arranging finding anything in the Swedish achieve this we arrange frequent a genealogy workshop as an after church records. after work activities. As we spe- work activity. I have wondered if cialize in road design in my unit, my colleagues were up for it. As I got in touch with Genline’s sales my colleagues are almost exclusi- I have bothered them many times department just to find out how I vely civil engineers, and our after with in promptu lectures on gene- could arrange a short term group work activities tend to be the ex- alogy, I have had many opportuni- subscription, and I was connec-

16 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • September 2010 ted to Helene Johansson. She was absolutely thrilled when I told her about my concept of a genealogy workshop at my workplace. And Helene told me that this is exactly what she is eager for, spreading the word like this. If I can get one or two of these 12 people interested in genealogy, it was all worthwhi- le. You’ll be able to see it in their eyes, she said. They’ll get a certain look in their eyes. And they will be hooked. She ended up giving me the temporary subscriptions for free!

I now felt the responsibility to make something out of it. At the same time I felt pretty confident One of the participants in deep concentration that my colleagues would find ge- nealogy exciting, as long as they At first, they were all frustrated by ing among the common names in would be able to trace back at least the manual searching. They’re all the birth records. This was also a a couple of generations. spoiled by the precise searchabi- good lesson to learn. Don’t take lity of the google era. One missed anything for granted. Verify, ve- In preparation, I had asked for one person because the entries in rify, verify. names and dates of the ancestors the birth records weren’t in chro- they were investigating. So I did nological order. When I explained, One of the luckier participants some preliminary research and it finally dawned on her: there came across a parish with minis- concluded that they all had good were no computers in the 1800’s. ters with particularly readable chances of tracing their ancestors You couldn’t sort by date. The mi- handwriting. He reached the early at least one step back. nister put down the births in ink 1800s without much effort. He when they were known to him. He was also the one who experienced We started out with a brief intro- didn’t have a delete or undo button. the most tragic family fates, with duction with a presentation of DIS Another one had the wrong birth three small children lost to tuber- and all available resources. And parish on her ancestor as it turned culosis within three weeks. a very brief look into the system out. Brutal, but pedagogical. You of the church records. I ended the have to have reliable sources, or The most touching and rewarding presentation with a short look at alternative ways in. We solved the moment of the evening for me was Genline’s search program Family problem a few days later and she when our Iraqi descendant par- Finder. Doing all this, I realised could make up for lost time on her ticipant, who helped out another that it probably required at least own. participant who had had to cancel half a day of lectures for them to in the last minute, had got lost in fully understand the basics of ge- One of the participants didn’t need the church records and was pretty nealogy. Still, I wanted them to any help at first, and proudly an- frustrated and had her jacket on, jump right in and try it themselves. nounced that he had reached the ready to go home. Suddenly she Helene had warned me that 12 pe- 1820’s, finally ran into trouble and had a breakthrough and under- ople is rather a big group of begin- it turned out that he had followed stood the system. When I checked ners to handle by yourself, which I the wrong family for three genera- on her an hour or so later, she had soon became aware of. tions. He was a bit too quick pick- taken of her jacket and told me that

September 2010 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • 17 she had missed her bus long ago. I’m pretty sure that I did see that to be a success. If you need advice, She had obviously taken to the in- special look in the eyes of a couple I’m here to help you, or I can di- vestigative side of genealogy. of the participants. The look that rect you to one of the many more Helene at Genline told me about. experienced tutors in the DIS or- Although it was a hectic time for ganization. me as a first time workshop tu- So, this is my message to all Roo- tor, I enjoyed every second of it ted readers. If you ever thought: “It And, don’t forget. Spreading the thoroughly. I was so proud of my would be fun too…” or “Maybe I word can be very rewarding and “flock”, the way they plunged should just…” Just go for it! Take much, much fun. into the search with good spirits the plunge! At a workplace. In a and high morale. Collectively, we group of friends, a family reunion, experienced a great number of or in another pastime society. With human stories on that night. And the right group of people it’s sure

the digital race Update on Swedish Online Resources SVAR Genline Ancestry ArkivDigital Church records Practically complete - complemen- Complete Värmland’s Complete - Blekinge, Dalarna, -1860 tary scanning in production län and partly Gävleborg, Göteborgs och Älvsborg’s län. Bohus, , Jönköping, Kalmar, Kristianstad, Krono- berg, Malmöhus, Norrbotten, Skaraborg, Södermanland, Uppsala, Värmland, Västerbot- ten, Västernorrland, Västman- land, Älvsborg, Örebro and Östergötland’s län. The rest are in progress. Church records Same as above. Complete vital records Same as above Same as above 1860-95 Complete vital records (SCB (SCB extracts). extracts). Complete for husför- hörslängder Church records In production In production - - 1895-1939 Vital records Complete SCB extracts Complete SCB extracts - In production 1898-1939 Taxation records Complete - - Partly 1642-1820 Census indexes 1860,1870 partly - - - 1880, 1890,1900 complete 1910 in production. Other records Convicts, military records Various printed church Emihamn passenger Court records, probate Indexes of seamen, villages and records lists. US census. records, military records, farms, Various printed church Swedish death book school records, prison re- records 1947-2006 cords, name registers Fee - lowest fee 50 kr (7,- USD) for 3 75 kr (10,- USD) for 24 Free to try, but 42,- 135 kr (19,- USD) for a hours hours USD for a month month Fee - annual fee 995 kr (137,- USD) 1395 kr (192,- USD) 280,- USD 1045 kr (144,- USD) (DIS Members offer) (DIS Members offer) Web site www.svar.ra.se www.genline.com www.ancestry.com www.arkivdigital.se

18 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • September 2010 of diplomas were awarded to DIS postscript functionaries for long and faithful service. This time Postscript contains a rather belated report from DIS’ The dinner also served as a going annual meeting and functionaries away-party for Olof Cronberg who gathering which took place in Lin- stepped down as chairman, after köping on 13-14 March. three years at the helm. People Olof Cronberg and Daniel Berglund lined up to celebrate Olof for the Sunday was spent in different Among other things an annual eco- amazing work he’s done during his workshops where the functiona- nomic report was presented which 22 years on the DIS board. ries discussed the present and the showed positive figures thanks to future of the DIS society. a steady increase in members and At the meeting Olof handed over sale of the Disgen software. The the chairman gavel to Daniel Berg- As this was my first annual mee- number of member passed 26,000 lund. Daniel introduced himself ting and functionary gathering, I in 2009, and as many as 75 % of as a genealogist since eight years, had of lot of impressions to pro- these use Disgen. The surplus will three years as an active participant cess on the train home on Sunday be invested in a fund for the deve- in the Disgen development work. evening. I was happy to have met lopment of the Disgen software. Daniel presented four improve- all the people I had only been in ment areas for DIS to focus on in touch with electronically. It was As it was DIS’ 30th anniversary, the near future: great fun meeting with so many the meeting on Saturday ended • A well functioning web site people who share the same inte- with an anniversary dinner. Some rest. But, most of all, I felt a deep • Internet based research 120 people enjoyed a three cour- respect for the people of the board, se dinner and listened to several • More “community” thinking who work hard to direct this large speeches. The DIS society was • Acceleration of the deve- society, with so many strong wills, celebrated by the different regio- lopment of Disgen, Disbyt, in one direction. nal societies as well as other ge- Dispos etc nealogy associations. A number DIS Society - Computer Genealogy Society of Sweden The DIS Society was founded in 1980 to ”to investigate methods and develop computer tools to support genealogy research, and in general stimulate Swedish genealogy”. DIS is an abbreviation of Datorhjälp i släktforskningen, which means Computer Aid in Genealogy. The abbreviation DIS is used in the Scandinavian countries, where there are sister societies. The DIS Society is a non-profit organization. There are eight regional DIS Societies working actively throughout Sweden and arranging meetings about several topics in Computer Genealogy. We also have a force of sixty faddrar, which are members that are experts giving support and help in the use of different genealogical softwares.

Since 1980, the DIS SOCIETY has developed a genealogical software called DISGEN, which is the leading software in Sweden. The current version is 8.2a. Currently, the software is only available in Swedish, but print-outs can be made in several languages including English. The software is easy-to-use and has a good support for source registration, producing print-outs and family books. It also has a unique possiblity to link your data to a Swedish map.

Since 1989, the DISBYT database has been used to find connections and exchange data between genealogists. In 1998, the da- tabase appeared on the Internet, making it even easier to find relatives. With more than 6,600 participants and over 22 million records, the DISBYT database covers half of the total population who lived in Sweden before 1910.

The DIS SOCIETY publishes a quarterly magazine called DISKULOGEN in Swedish. From 2005, we have extended our efforts to also publish a newsletter in English called ROOTED IN SWEDEN, which is published as a pdf newsletter.

At present (September, 2010), the DIS SOCIETY has more than 27,000 members. More than 600 are overseas members. Address: The DIS Society, Gamla Linköping, SE-582 46 LINKÖPING, SWEDEN Phone: Int prefix+ 46 13 14 90 43. Fax: Int prefix +46 13 14 90 91. Email: [email protected] Web address: www.dis.se Annual fee: USD 18,- incl Rooted in Sweden. USD 24,- incl the Swedish magazine Diskulogen.

September 2010 • rooted in Sweden no 9 • 19