Wolffe and Hoffstrom

[Peter Hore]

Good morning!
I am researching two people 1. Carl Johan Wolffe who was born in Stockholm about 1785 and 2. Nils Magnus Hoffstrom who was born in 'Westerwich' [Vestervik?] about 1781.  In both cases the spelling has been anglicised by a 19th century ship's clerk.

Both were seamen who joined a British warship, HMS Africa, under the command of Captain Henry Digby in 1805, and who fought at what is regarded as the greatest and most decisive sea battle of the age, the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805, before returning home to Sweden.

I have been able to trace Hoffstrom to the island of Gotland, where he married, raised a family, and died in 1834, but know nothing about Wolffe.

I should like help, please, in knowing more about both men, and,  if possible to trace their descendants, in preparation for commemorative ceremonies which are likely to take place in 2022.

Your help would be appreciated.
With regards
Peter Hore

[Erik Mouwitz]

Hello and welcome to the forum!


I have done a quick search of the archives of the "Sjömanshus" archives in Stockholm and Visby (Gotland) and found the following:


In the rolls for 1803, I found a cook called Carl Wulf who was 18 years old at the time. Source: Stockholms sjömanshus (A, AB) DIa:57 (1803) Bild 403 / sid 385


In the rolls for 1804, the same cook is found on the same ship, but now he is called Carl J. Wulf, and the detail that he was born in Stockholm is added, as well as the notice that he jumped ship in London on the 16th of September 1805, and returned to Sweden in 1806. 
Source: Stockholms sjömanshus (A, AB) DIa:58 (1804) Bild 413 / sid 398


All in all I think this is enough to confirm that this is the same Carl Johan "Wolffe" that you're researching.


I also found Hofström, in the rolls of Visby Sjömanshus. This, however did not contain such specific information, there is simply no travels noted during 1805, which of course probably meant that he was absent.


Is any of this news to you? How many specific facts do you already know about these men?


Regards
Erik

[Erik Mouwitz]

I have to add another thing that i just noticed by accident:


In the same Stockholm roll from 1804, a few lines above Wulf, I found Nils M. Hofström, 23 years old, born in Västervik, who also jumped ship on the 16th of September 1805 in London and who returned home on the 27th of august 1807!


/Erik

[Peter Hore]

This corresponds with what I know:  Wulf and Hoffstrom were pressganged in the Thames - with some other Swedes - and joined HMS Africa in Portsmouth later that month.  They subsequently claimed their release under an Admiralty Order which precluded foreigners from serving i the (British) fleet. I can send your the other names, if you wish.   Perhaps they will also show in the record. This is very exciting and I am most grateful to you!
Peter

[Peter Hore]

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[Peter Hore]

I have just noticed in the images which you kindly sent,the name of J F Norlund - he is another subject of great interest to me!  He was born in Ekenäs, subsequeny became an officer in the Finnish navy and settled in the Ålands.  This is very exciting!  The trick will be to find their descendants for ceremonies are planning in 2022.
Peter

[Peter Hore]

Have just checked my access to British naval records, and HOFFSTROM, NORDLAND, and WOLFFE (Br spellings) were pressed on 15 September 1805 from a ship called CERES.   Does this fit with what you know?

I have a longer list of Swedes who were in Nelson's fleet off Cadiz in the Autumn of 1805 - how, please, can I access the Swedish records to trace these men?

My regards
Peter

[Erik Mouwitz]

Here’s the whole crew of the ship “Expediten”. Six of them jumped ship in London, namely Abraham Holm, Johan Gustaf Nordén, Nils Magnus Hofström, Carl G. Kernander, Johan Fredrik Nordlund, Johan Fredrik Gren and Carl Johan Wulf. The phrase used is “Rymt i London d. 16 Sept 1805”, which means “Escaped in London on the 16^th of September 1805.”
(The term in Swedish is “rymma” which in literal translation means “to escape”. In this case, since they were pressganged, perhaps their “escape" wasn’t entirely voluntary…)
This fits well, however, with the men being pressganged  on the 15^th, since they were probably put down as “escaped” after not showing up for a while or at the time of the ships departure.
The name of the ship is not the same though, since the British records indicate that the men were taken from the ship “Ceres” rather than “Expediten”. I do not know why this would be. Perhaps the men had left their own ship before they were pressganged?
I include an image of the entire page documenting the crew.
I have tried to track down the further whereabouts of Wulf in Sweden, but have as of yet had no luck. When it comes to Hofström, I have managed to find his birth record and to trace a few generations of his descendants, and include a picture of the family tree I have drawn up so far. Living relatives seem very likely, since he had many children and grandchildren.
Swedish records are accessed mainly through the website of Riksarkivet (the National Archive):
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/
They provide digitised records of all the basics required for genealogy (church records and such) for free. Viewing material that is less than a hundred years old may require registering an account, but this is also free.
If you need access to more specific records (like the Sjömanshus records) you may have to use ArkivDigital. It is quite an expensive service, but the picture quality is good and many records available on ArkivDigital are not found on Riksarkivet’s website, and vice versa. The pictures I have posted in this thread are all from ArkivDigital.
https://www.arkivdigital.net/
I am happy to provide further help in tracing these men and their families, since I find it an interesting challenge!
Regards
Erik

[Peter Hore]

Dear Erik
Attached is my database of all the Swedes and Finns in Nelson's fleet in October 1805.   It would be great, if you could me help to identify any of these men.   The ultimate aim is to find someone whose ancestor fought at the Battle of Trafalgar - and the cream on the cake would be to find someone whose family have a folk memory of the event.
My regards
Peter 

[Erik Mouwitz]

Oh, that's quite the list!


I think a good strategy would be to first try to find those men for whom more specific places of birth than just "Sweden" are given. Most of these men are from Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Karlskrona. One is from "Alinsforth", which I think could be an anglicisation of Alingsås, and one is from "Corkscrew"(!), which I think could be anglicisation of Karlskrona.


After this first selection (men with specific place of birth), one should focus on the men who have a family name, rather than just a patronymicon, since separating one Andersson from another Andersson is always a challenge i Scandinavian genealogy.


I think that the sjömanshus archives will be very important in the research, as they have already been, since few Swedes other than sailors would have had reason to travel overseas at the time. The Sjömanshus archives vary greatly in quality. I have some experience researching the one in Visby, since my family has branches on Gotland, and I find that archive very well kept. The same can be said about the one in Stockholm, but the one in Gothenburg seems more messy and disorganised.


At the moment, I am still focusing on the Hofström family, and have reached the end of the 19th century. It is an interesting family; I have already found a case of a woman poisoning her husband and serving life in prison, and a family emigrating to the American continent, living in Canada, the USA and finally Cuba.


Regards
Erik

[Peter Hore]

It's kind of you to look - and I agree you methodology.
By day I'm an obituartist and I long for someone with an unusual surname or combination of first names - and dread researching a 'Smith'.
For the record, all the ships' muster books from 1805 have survived and so I have some 20,000 names on the Trafalgar database and about 400 families or descendants who have registered as 'Sons and Daughters of Trafalgar'.   It is only in the present context that I have looked deeply at a specific nationality (Swedish) - other than the North Americans.
My regards
Peter

[Peter Hore]

I just wondered, Erik, if you had made any more discoveries?
Kind regards
Peter