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Skriv ut sidan - Nilsson, Louis f Dec 1856 emig to US 1880 as Nelson
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Titel: Nilsson, Louis f Dec 1856 emig to US 1880 as Nelson
Skrivet av: Ken Nelson skrivet 2005-10-01, 04:55
Tak so myka.. my Svenska is rusty, since last studies in 1970.
During this era the Swedish government was getting tired of not being able to collect enough taxes due to the consequences of Swedish naming customs, and strongly requested many parents to give their children French and Russian names, and to adopt European custom for surnames. So Louis is not that odd for the period.
Louis & Margareth were married in Chicago shortly before the Great Fire, and the records were lost. We believe that many of his brothers, sisters, and cousins followed him to America, but he was the only one to continue Westward to California, and he did not maintain contact with his extended family.
Rumour is that Louis was born on an island within 100 kM of Margareth's town of Skien, where most had physical features simular to his, but I haven't found this place yet.
We have found postal envelopes addressed to him from passengers aboard a Swedish steamship line, but never from anywhere within Sweden. On the many US census entries for him, he's listed simply from Sweden, while Margarethe is noted from Norway.
He was a man of mystery, and it doesn't help that his original surname was Nilsson. Luckily we have far more information about Margarethe.