Ekstrom family in Örebro

[David Fryxell]

I am seeking information on my ancestors named Ekstrom, at least one of whom, my great-grandmother, was born in Hackvad, Örebro. They emigrated to America in 1876 or 1877 and lived in Moline, Illinois, and St. Charles, Illinois. This is what I know of the family:
 
Olof? Ekstrom married Mary A. (maiden name unknown), born 18 January 1836 in Sweden
 
Their children:
Mary Ekstrom, born 24 April 1856 in Hackvad, married Oscar Lundeen in America
Charles Ekstrom, born December 1860 in Sweden
Amanda Ekstrom
Emil Ekstrom
Oliver Ekstrom, born 23 December 1866 in Sweden
 
Any information on this family would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
 
David Fryxell
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

[Göte Nordin]

Hallo David!
I don't know much about your family, however I have earlier downloaded the emigrations file at:
http://www.orebro.se/asp/fraIndex.asp?startpage=static
 
saying that Mary Ekstrom, born in April 25 1856 (unmarried), left Frösvi in Edsberg parish for North America in May 1 1876. There is also Amanda Ekstrom leaving from Hackvad at May 3 1876. Maybe there is an error in the file, perhaps they went the same day; they both belong to the same emigration attest nr.
Perhaps you should check out this file yourself.
 
/Göte

[David Fryxell]

Thank you so much for leading me to this marvelous resource. Besides Mary and Amanda, I think I found their brothers Oliver (as Olof, born 23 December 1866) and Charles (as Karl, born December 1860)-- these two also emigrated on the same date. I wonder if the name Anna Maja could possible become Mary A. in America--there is an Anna Maja born 10 January 1836 (an easy mistake from 18 January 1836), listed as a widow, emigrating in 1873. In the estate files for Edsberg on the same site I found an Anna Maja with an Olof Ekstrom in 1870. She is listed as the daughter, he as äe--could that be an abbreviation indicating he is her husband or the deceased's son-in-law?
 
Also, can you help me with Amanda's title? oäkta dotter--false daughter?
 
Thank you again so much for your help!

[Göte Nordin]

Hallo again David!
I am glad you found so much data in the file. Just be aware of that the file consists of  secondary information, not the source itself, so there may be errors.
 
Your questions:  
1.As Maja is a nickname for Maria (Mary) in Sweden, maybe Anna Maja became Mary A in the US, but about this we can only speculate.
2. äe means the following. ä is short for änka (=widow) or änkling (=widower) and e is short for efter (= after), so Olof Ekstrom was a widower after someone.
I can also mention that the abbreviation G stands for married (gift in Swedish), OG for unmarried (ogift), if you find this somewhere.
3. oäkta dotter means a daughter where the parents were not married. Sometimes the father is unknown in this cases.
 
/Göte

[David Fryxell]

Göte:
Thank you again! I've made great progress, and have now requested the Hackvad files on microfilm from our Family History Center so I can see the actual records. I think Anna Maja was the widow of Olof, who seemingly died shortly after emigrating to America in 1869. She followed in 1873 and became (mostly) Mary A. Ekstrom in America; I've actually found her on the 1900 census in Moline, Illinois, as Anna M. Ekstrom, with exactly the same birth date and number of children I later had for Mary A. Ekstrom! Previously she'd been a mystery pretty much until her obituary in 1916.
 
David