1
Discussions in English / SV: Unknown Swedish origins of American immigrant
« skrivet: 2020-06-30, 04:29 »
Wow, Kristina, thank you. I think you found my great-great-grandfather.
In any case I just took another look at the trees from some of my higher Swedish matches and found some more evidence that suggests you found the right person. I share one large 48 cM segment with someone who is descended from a Högberg from Högbo (Erik Högberg, born 1807), although I don't see where the connection lies as their tree doesn't go farther back than this individual. Even more confirmatory, however, is that one of my matches is the great-x4-grandson of the Sven Olofsson and Stina Jonsdotter that you mention.
On the whole it seems impossible that this would not be him. Thank you so much for solving this. I genuinely thought his identity would remain a mystery to my family forever.
I have seen before that the name Lars can become Lewis or Louis but I cannot really explain why (if this is the right man) Högberg became Hedberg.I had suspected he may have changed his surname to Hedberg at some point, based on the fact that there were no good Hedberg candidates in US immigration records, that it's not a name that shows up with any regularity in my DNA matches, and that he suddenly shows up as "Lewis Hedberg" in 1895 which was years after his immigration date. So that you found his real surname to be something else doesn't surprise me.
Citera
There might be other family connections as well but this one was the one I could find for now. And that would make Lars Mathias Högberg and Anna Jönsdotter (m to Abraham Abrahamsson) 3rd or 4th cousins? How good was your DNA match?My match, who is the great-great-granddaughter of Anna Jönsdotter, and I share 0.7% of our DNA (46.3 cM across 3 segments, largest 20.7 cM). That's enough for our estimated relationship to be 3rd-5th cousins. Makes me wonder if there is a closer relationship in the tree somewhere, but perhaps that just reflects the randomness of DNA inheritance.
In any case I just took another look at the trees from some of my higher Swedish matches and found some more evidence that suggests you found the right person. I share one large 48 cM segment with someone who is descended from a Högberg from Högbo (Erik Högberg, born 1807), although I don't see where the connection lies as their tree doesn't go farther back than this individual. Even more confirmatory, however, is that one of my matches is the great-x4-grandson of the Sven Olofsson and Stina Jonsdotter that you mention.
Citera
I also found "bouppteckningar" for both of Lars Mathias Högbergs parents. Similar to probates.Both facts are consistent with Lewis Hedberg. He died in 1907 from tuberculosis and did indeed have 5 children.
His mother Anna Larsdotter died February 14th 1902 and her bouppteckning can be found in Gästriklands östra tingslags häradsrätt FII:23 (1902) Image 2020 / Page 401. Here only Lars Mathias is mentioned as living in North America (no further details).
His father Hans Högberg died December 10th 1921 and his bouppteckning can be found in Gästriklands östra domsagas häradsrätt FII:3 (1922) Image 800 / Page 43. Here it says that Lars Mathias Högberg is not living anymore but he has five children. However, their names are unfortunately not known. It only states that they live in North America.
So, Lars Mathias Högberg died sometime between 1902 and 1922 and he had 5 children.
On the whole it seems impossible that this would not be him. Thank you so much for solving this. I genuinely thought his identity would remain a mystery to my family forever.