In Search of My Swedish Ancestors – Phase One – Complete

When I last tried out ArkivDigital, I was having trouble figuring out what parishes to look in. It was suggested that I look for my ancestors first in FamilySearch and then use that information to find them in ArkivDigital.

I put this project on my to-do list almost every day for a month and finally got to it last week. It didn’t take too long, but did not produce the anticipated results.

• Result One – there appears to be either an indexing or microfilming black hole around the city of Lund. Of all my ancestors from the part of Sweden, I found a total of one (yes, one) marriage record.  This is primarily the Nordstrom family – my great-grandfather, his parents, and his father’s ancestors. My cousin included them in the published genealogy, but not his sources.  
• Result Two – I would estimate that most of the ancestors were not in FamilySearch, or at least not as listed by my cousin. Many of these individuals were born in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, so I can’t be sure that they existed, so to speak.
• Result Three – I found siblings for several of my direct ancestors. As the published genealogy was at least 20 pages, it does not surprise me that only direct ancestors were included. I will have to remember to keep my eyes peeled for siblings of other ancestors.
• Result Four – I discovered that Victor Witting (1825-1906) went to Chicago and died in Quincy, MA. He is buried in the Swedish Cemetery in Worcester, MA. Victor Witting would have been the great-uncle of my great-grandfather, Carl Gustav Nordstrom (1877-1931).
• Result Five – Many of these individuals were baptized under a patronymic surname.  For example, my great-great Grandmother, who I’ve always known as Christina Gustave Mathilda Petterson was baptized in 1847 as Christina Gustave Mathilda Johannsdatter. I was, obviously, aware of patronymics but I thought they had been abandoned much earlier. Just another challenge.

Next up – phase 2 – activating my ArkivDigital membership and starting the hunt proper for my Swedish ancestors.