August Bergman

[Chris Bergman]

Hello,

I'm looking for my great grandfather August Bergman. I have a lot of information about him once he arrived in North East England (North Shields) - marriage certificate, British Naturalisation certificate, Census information for 1891, 1901 & 1911. He died in 1926 in South Shields, NE England.

In his Naturalisation document August claims to have been born in Gotteborg, Sweden on 11th January 1864 to parents Jonathan and Sofia Bergman. I have been unable to find any records that confirm either his birth or the existence of his parents. And I don't know when he arrived in England but he was married in 1890 and his first child, my grandfather Alfred Rudolph Bergman, was born on the 15th July 1890.

Other information - August was a ship's carpenter (Naturalisation document) and does seem to have spent a lot of time at sea. He received 2 mercantile marine medals in the 1st World War. He moved with his family when he was 2 to Norway, probably Bergen. The UK Census documents refer to him as a Norwegian subject. I'm also lead to believe that he fell out with his family so it may just be that he's lied about his parents and date of birth, I don't know but would really like to find out more.

[Anita Aronsson]

Hello Chris,

Perhaps this August Magnusson DoB 1864-01-11 in Ör parish might be a possible candidate?
Father: Jonathan Magnusson DoB 1835-08-07
Mother: Sofia Larsdotter DoB 1840-10-10

August birth record:
Ör (P) C:11 (1860-1869) Bild 58 / sid 112 (AID: v12303.b58.s112, NAD: SE/GLA/13675)
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/00095629_00056

August and family in Linde:
Ör (P) AI:15 (1861-1865) Bild 360 / sid 346 (AID: v4679.b360.s346, NAD: SE/GLA/13675)
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0047037_00316
Ör (P) AI:16 (1866-1870) Bild 386 / sid 372 (AID: v4680.b386.s372, NAD: SE/GLA/13675)
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0047038_00339

Later this family moved to Norway:
Sundals-Ryr (P) AI:17 (1881-1885) Bild 115 / sid 99 (AID: v4284.b115.s99, NAD: SE/GLA/13511)
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0044337_00113

Here they are in the Norwegian 1885 Census. August is listed as a sailor, and he is not at home:
https://www.digitalarkivet.no/gf01053272011324
https://www.digitalarkivet.no/ft20080520650875

Best wishes, Anita Aronsson

[Chris Bergman]

Hi Anita,

Thank you very much, that information looks fantastic, even if it now means I maybe should be Chris Magnusson and not Chris Bergman!

Given that I don't think August Bergman exists according to the information that I have, then all this now fits perfectly. And if August fell out with his family and wanted to change his name then Bergman would seem logical as it was his godmother's surname.

Presumably I can find some more information about him in Norway census records and also information about his parents from my normal web sources. I guess the area I'm now particularly interested in finding out more about is his life at sea. Someone doing similar research found some details of August in New York immigration records, presumably as a member of a ship's crewe and there was a photo provided which exactly matches the photo I have in my files at home.

One question I had about August's godfather - Johannes Erikson - but I couldn't decipher the word before his name. Is this a military title? And he has the same birthday as me, just 130 years before mine!

Thanks again for your help, I'm pretty convinced that this must be my great grandfather. So (cheekily) I would be very grateful for any more information that can be found about him and his parents.

Kind regards,

Chris

[Anita Aronsson]

Hi Chris,

August's godfather - Johannes Erikson´s title was “Brukare”(= tenant farmer). Johannes’ wife Christina Bergman’s parents were Nils Bergman and Helena “Lena” Elisabet Grund. Her great grandfather Bryngel living in Skållerud parish was the first to use the Bergman surname. Bryngel Bergman was a builder and supervisor at Upperud's ironworks.

Christina’s ancestors are found in these two family-trees on FamilySearch and Geni:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/K4RB-33B
https://www.geni.com/people/Bryngel-Arnesson-Bergman/6000000006098976176

Bryngel Arnesson Bergman’s estate inventory:
Nordals häradsrätt (P) FIIa:18 (1802-1804) Bild 227 / sid 439 (AID: v142973.b227.s439, NAD: SE/GLA/11124)
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0101290_00234

August left for Norway together with his family in 1884. Thus he was twenty, not two years old at the time. He married in England in 1890 so there will probably not be much to find about him in Norway. When did he get his Naturalisation document?

Cheers, Anita