rooted in Sweden No 5 * January 2008 The SwedGen Road Tour 2007PAGE 2 Visit Ellis Island SwedGen Road Tour 2007 in Cambridge, Minnesota. From left: Olof Cronberg, Anna- PAGE 5 Lena Hultman, Anneli Andersson, Kathy Meade (Genline), and Charlotte Börjesson Visit Allen County We found the Swedish roots Public Library PAGE 7 In May 2007 a group of four Swedish genealogists went on the Swedgen Road Tour visiting Minneapolis and Cambridge, Minnesota; Rockford, Illinois and Jamestown, New York. The Digital At lectures and workshops, we showed how to find your Swedish roots. The possibilites to solve the research problems have improved in just a few years. We Race were able to help almost all attenders to the meetings. However, one important PAGE 10 lesson is that it isn’t enough to have access to the sources and to the databases. You need to know how to search the databases in order to find interesting matches. You also need to know how to interpret the result. We saw cases were The Iron researchers had followed the wrong track due to misinterpretation of the result. Industry in In this issue we will try to give some ideas how to do and how to avoid pitfalls. Sweden PAGE 13 Thank you for helping us We would like to say thank you to all the local organizing committees who help us with ar- ranging the workshops, to all the families that let us stay in your homes and to our sponsors, the DIS Society and Genline. The SwedGen Road Tour group. Newsletter of the DIS Society Computer Genealogy Society of SwedenJanuary 2008 • rootedwww.dis.se in Sweden no 5 | 1 SwedGen Road Tour 2007 After a year of planning, in the end Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania. of April, the time had come for the They also wanted to tie the bands We flew to New York and stayed for a SwedGen Road Tour 2007. The initiative between those who stayed and those who day to visit Ellis Island. Then we flew had come from Anneli Andersson in left. to Minneapolis and during two weeks Mellerud. She had inspired Anna-Lena There is a great interest among went back to New York by rental car. Hultman in Hössna and Charlotte Swedish Americans to learn about their In Minneapolis, we stayed by Tracy Börjesson i Göteborg to join. ancestors’ neighborhood and why they Baresh. The first day there, we went –We have participated in SwedGen Tours left Sweden. We are interested in to learn for sightseeing North of Minneapolis before, but dreamed of doing a tour of what become of the immigrants in their in the Swedish areas such as Scandia, our own in a low budget fashion. We are new country. The historical knowledge is Lindstrom, Stillwater, Chisago City, all crazy enough in United States to do a a part of the thrill with genealogy. Taylor Falls and Forest Lake. tour and to pay for it. When Olof Cronberg in Växjö heard Contacts through genealogy American Swedish Institute about the plans, he wanted to join too. He has also been participated in the The mayor part of the planning was The first presentation took place at the earlier tours. done through email correspondence American Swedish Institute, Minneapolis. –We knew that we would work as a with contacts in the US, who also helped More than 125 had signed up for the group, and have different skills, which is a us with publicity about the tour. Our day to listen, learn and get help with the key to a successful trip. contacts, we had learnt to know through genealogy. Many had come from far away genealogy assignments, earlier tours and such as California and Texas. our DIS members in the US. Kathy presented Genline and Olof Visit new Swedish areas Kathy Meade in Chicago, who is a showed Disbyt and Dispos and how What was the purpose with the trip? representative for Genline in the US, they work in conjunction with Genline We wanted to visit other Swedish areas, participated in the Minnesota part of assisted by Charlotte at the computer. where the earlier SwedGen tours haven’t the tour. She helped with the planning of Anneli and Anna-Lena told about the been to. We wanted to get in contact with Minneapolis and Cambridge. emigration from Sweden, resources on the Swedish Americans in these areas and tell In Rockford, Illinois, we had good help Internet and the CDs. Anneli told about about the possibilities to look for your of Anneli’s genealogy friend Karen the situation in Sweden in the end of the Swedish roots. Hammarberg. On our earlier tours, we 1800s and about the difference between Anneli and Anna-Lena have a large had met Karen Livsey in Jamestown, NY. gårdar (farms), torp (small house) and experience about their parts of Sweden, The visit to Kylertown and Grassflat, PA backstugor (even smaller house). and know where the emigrants went. was more informally arrange by Jennifer After lunch, we tried to help people one Therefore, we choose to visit Minnesota, Ertmer. by one. Since they were so many some members of the Swedish Genealogical Society of Minnesota help us answering questions. A visitor was found to be a relative of Olof’s. We really wished that we had had more time to help everyone a little more but hopefully almost all had some new useful piece of information. Cambridge The next day, we headed Northbound to Cambrigde and Isanti County Historical Society Heritage Center. Here we had double presentation in the afternoon and in the evening. There were approximately 75 attendants. We had better time for the one-to-one session. We were able to help people to find there long searched link to Sweden. You need more than just access to databases. You need to know how to search and how to interpret the information. The local TV station in Rockford is interviewing Anna-Lena about the Emigration from Sweden 2 | rooted in Sweden no 5 • January 2008 January 2008 • rooted in Sweden no 5 | 3 Rockford The next day, we traveled to Rockford, Illinois. Here, we were also able to stay with families. Charlotte had had a presentation at the Rockford Public Library some years ago. Here we had access to a lecture room and to a computer lab. The idea was that the 50 visitors should have some hands on access to the Swedish databases. Before leaving Rockford, we were invited to brunch at the country club by the Lindberg family where Olof and Anna-Lena stayed. It appeared that Anna- Lena many years ago had done genealogy for a friend of the family, and this time she tracked down a relative that had been on the Titantic. Then we continue our journey just Before starting the presentations at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. passing by Chicago and then on to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Olof had suggested and Anna-Lena had done research for and thus the tunnels was not more than a a visit to Allen County Public Library, some of them and Charlotte had help one meter high. which reopened in January. It is the lady with a Disbyt submission. We visited Summary second largest genealogy center in the this part of Pennsylvania because many States after the FHL in Salt Lake City. emigrants from Dalsland ended up there. Comparing with earlier tours, we Anneli wanted to see the places: Arnot, were able to help more visitors. It is Jamestown, NY Antrim, Grassflat, Peale and Wilburne. a large difference in five years. It was We visited several burial grounds and fun to see the joy in their faces, when The next day, we went on to Jamestown, took photos of tombstones with Swedish they realized that we really had solved NY, where Karen Livsey met us at the names. their problems. It was quite apparent Fenton History Center. Here we also These small places were busy places that there are Swedish American areas stayed in families. We were invited for one hundred years ago, when the outside of Minnesota – the tombstones lunch and a visit to Falconer Public coalmines were open. We were also spoke clearly. We were able to establish Library where we met Delbert Mee invited to visit a coalmine of today. connections with Swedish American who had documented the tombstones Instead of digging tunnels to get the coal genealogy organizations. of the area, including many “Swedish” out, at present, large dumpers moves the tombstones. soil on top and then dig out the coal. We THE SWEDGEN ROAD TOUR GROUP Bob Alm, who was a host for the girls, could see the remnants of wooden poles didn’t know anything about his origin. from earlier times, when the coal layer With a few keystrokes on her computer, Anneli soon found out that his ancestors were from Dalsland, and that he was related to the Ingvald Family, which also Anneli belongs to. The world is small and Bob was very touched. The next day, we had our show at the Jamestown Community College with a similar schedule as in Minneapolis. We had 45 visitors, so we had more time to help. Swedish traces in PA Then we went through the forests of Pennsylvania, where the trees were bursting out. We stopped in Kylertown, Clearfield county, where a welcome committee was waiting, five ladies and a The local organizing committee of Swedish Genealogical Society of Minnesota and little girl, at the towns only motel. Anneli the SwedGen Road Tour group at the end of a long day in Minneapolis 2 | rooted in Sweden no 5 • January 2008 January 2008 • rooted in Sweden no 5 | 3 Zoe Norwood is introducing the SwedGen Road Tour in the computer lab at the Rockford Public Library The Rockford Workshop Join the On Friday, May 4, 2007, a group of and puzzles solved, tears trickled from DIS Society genealogists from Sweden arrived in participants, as they were so happy to Rockford, Illinois.