Today, I pieced together a few more facts about my Swedes, using Ancestry, FindAGrave, and the family history I have transcribed and posted on this website.
My great great grandmother, Kjerstin Jönsdotter, was born 6 February 1834, according to the “History of Swan Johnson Family or Nance County Nebraska” written 102 years later by the eldest child of her eldest child.
I have now seen the record of this birth, on Ancestry (which recently incorporated “Sweden Church Records, 1500–1937” from their acquisition last year of Genline).
This record also tells me that her father’s name was Jöns Westersson, her mother’s appears to have been Elna Nilsdotter. Kerstin was christened three days after her birth, on 9 February 1834 in Gustav Adolf (Viby), Kristianstad län, Sweden. Her godparents appear to have been Anders Martinsson and Karna Westersson.
The family history lists a sister, Karna, who immigrated to America thanks to her brother-in-law (Swan, my great great grandfather). Swan sent money not only for her passage, but also for that of her husband, Nels Ahlm, 3 daughters, and son. In the Valley View Cemetery listing for Karna Ahlm (FindAGrave), her birth date is given as May 1841. Going back to the Swedish records on Ancestry, I find her in the listings as being born to Jöns Westersson and Elna Nilsdotter, 11 May 1841, and baptised on 13 May, both events happening in Gustav Adolf (Viby), Kristianstad län, Sweden.
I can tell already that these Swedish records are going to provide a great deal of information. I have yet to really delve into the household examinations, which are like census records, but kept by the church on an annual basis.…