Bergstøm (Bergstrom) family from Fagersta

[Brian Molyneaux]

My grandmother, Agnes Karolina Bergstøm, emigrated to Kansas in 1888 or 1889 with her parents Per Erik Bergstøm and Karolina Eriksson (Erikdotter?). They lived with a family by the name of Olson for a year or two then moved to Chicago Heights, Illinos. I think the Olsons were cousins but am not certain of that. Agnes had two brothers, Axel and Conrad. According to US census records, it appears there were two other children who died before the family emigrated.
 
I have a delayed record of birth which Agnes ordered in the 1940s which a friend recently translated for me (see below). I am not sure how to approach researching records in Sweden as I do not speak the language. I would be most grateful for any advice on how to research this family prior to their emigration to the US and for any look-ups anyone would be kind enough to do.
 
Thank-you, --Brian Molyneaux
--- Delayed record of birth translation that I have ---
Here is what I made of your document - as you say, it seems to be a later copy of a birth/baptismal certificate. There was one word I couldn't figure out - åttasju in the first line. Extract of  registry of birth- and baptism ( handwritten addition)  and municipal registry  
1. Year 1887  (åttasju ? might be attested) July 1
2. Born in Västanfors  municipality in Västmanlands län (län = county, forsamling = assembly, I expect it means municipality here) 3 Girl child Agnes Karolina 4. Father's name and occupation Per Erik Bergstøm, plåt 5. klippare  born August 4, 1851 (plåtklippare is not a title, but is a factory worker, cutting sheet metal; plåtklippare = plate-cutter) 6 Mother's name and occupation: His wife, Karolina Eriksson 7.  ..........; born July 3 1849. 8. Parents (mother) registered in Parish register at (place)... Parents married Sept 13, 1879
       Västanfors municipality in Västmanlands county
9. Parents (mothers) place of residence in above named municipality.. Fagersta 10 Child baptized August 14 1887 by Alex Pettersson 11 Godparents..(not named) 12 ............... 13. Mother ---appeared in church  August 14, 1887  
14. Certified/declared  by Västanfors municipality in Västmanlands County 15. April 19, 1948 signed (Name indecipherable)  Vicar (Pastor of a Parish)

[Ingela Martenius]

I have no idea what a delayed record of birth might be. In Sweden no birth certificates are issued. There has never been a municipal registry - all registrations of births, marriages and deaths were done by the parishes of the Church of Sweden until 1991 when the tax authorities took over the job.
 
Åttasju is most probably åttiosju which is to say, 87. Agnes Karolina was born 01 July 1887 I take it? It is very common in Sweden to give a date in both letters and numerals when it comes to official papers, so that no misunderstanding is possible. It says perhaps 1887 (åttiosju) ? They wouldn't bother with the 18 in letters since that would have been self-evident.
 
Församling is not assembly or municipality but parish. There is a place called Västanfors within the Västanfors parish, but if the paper says församling it means parish. Also, further down you had place of residence as Fagersta, which is a small town within the Västanfors parish. There was an internationally important foundry there, Engelsbergs Bruk (now on the UNESCO World Heritage list), which I think fits well with the father's profession.
 
A plåtklippare is not just another factory worker, but a trained worker, more like a craftsman, cutting sheet-metal with plate-shears.
 
I find it hard to believe that the father's last name was Bergstøm - unless he was Danish or Norwegian of course - Bergstöm is indeed a possibility though Bergström is more probable.
 
The mother's name was probably Eriksdotter in the original but the custom of using patronymics was just about changing at this time so it is entirely possible that it in fact was Eriksson.
 
The mother didn't appear in church - she was churched, a ceremony still practiced in rural conservative areas well into the 20th century.
 
Now, how to proceed. You have the two most vital pieces of information:
1. parish
2. date of birth
 
You start off with checking Agnes Karolina's birth record in Västanfors parish. That will give you the family's place of residence (exact spot I mean) at that time. Armed with this information you proceed to the clerical survey book (a little like an American census, only incredibly more detailed and continually and professionally updated - nothing slap-dash, amateur, once-every-ten-years here - husförhörslängd in Swedish, usually abbreviated to Hfl) where you look up the family at their place of residence. The relevant volume in this particular case would be A I:21 (a and b), covering 1887-1896. This will give you the entire family, with dates of birth and parishes where they were born. At these parishes you repeat the performance, i e first look up in birth records to get the exact place, then over to the relevant clerical survey book.
 
All Swedish records have been microfilmed by the Mormons and are thus available at your nearest Family History Center.
As for the language you will need maybe 50-100 words to get by quite well. We're talking set phrases here, with no great variations. There are quite a few glossaries on the 'net, for example at this very site.
 
If you want to know more about the emigration, you would have to ask somebody to look it up for you on the Emigrant-CD. Unfortunately I don't have it.
 
Good luck!
Ingela

[Ted Rosvall]

According to the EMIBAS database of Swedish emigrants, AGNES KAROLINA BERGSTRÖM, born 1887 July.1. emigrated 1888 Feb.28. from Fagersta in Västanfors parish (page 121 in the Household Examination Roll) to North America. Travelling with her were: Per Erik Bergström b 1851 Aug.4. Karbenning wife/ Karolina Eriksson b 1849 July.3. Linde son/ Axel b 1885 March.14. Fagersta son/ Per Konrad b 1880 May.21. Fagersta Best wishes TED ROSVALL

[Ingela Martenius]

Brian, I see that you have posted to Ancestry as well. The correct translation of the paper is as follows (it is mostly correct, though I suspect not done by a native Swede or maybe someone who left Sweden a very long time ago):  Excerpt from Birth- and Baptizing-book and parish book. (after 1900 the clerical survey book (or as Ted prefers to call it, household examination roll - both terms exist as translations) was renamed parish book) 1. Year 1887 (eight seven) - it is indeed written eight seven and not, as one would think, eightyseven. The reason was of course to be extra clear about the numbers). 4. Father's last name i BERGSTRÖM (means mountain stream) 9. Parents' domicile is FAGERSTA in the parish of Västanfors. 14. affirmed by - I think it says Heimer Forssell  I see that Judy has recommended the two top books of Swedish genealogy in English.  You can also begin by printing the free booklet published on the Internet by the Swedish Foreign Office: http://www.swedenabroad.com/SelectImage/15063/tracing.pdf It's quite good, accurate though a little basic. But you can't beat the price!  Ingela

[Brian Molyneaux]

Ingela and Ted,
 
Thank-you both for the excellent information. Ingela, yes, I have another thread running on rootsweb (ancestry) which has also been very helpful.
 
Ted, you found the record for Per Erik in the EMIBAS database (which I'm not familar with). Judy over on rootsweb did a lookup in the Emihemn database and found a slightly different record for Per Erik which did not show his wife and children in the listing (but did list others who I believe are cousins). The record you found in Emibas is clearly correct as it lists all the known children. Whats the difference between Emibas and Emihemn? It sounds like Emibas is based on the Household Examination Roll while Emihemn is based on emigration records kept at the ports.
 
Again, thank-you both, I think I'm off to a good start now.
 
Oh, yes - Ingela, the translation I posted was done by a friend of mine in Norway which explains the translations errors as you noted.
 
--Brian