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Författare Ämne: Place name in Northern Sweden  (läst 2361 gånger)

2022-07-29, 03:51
läst 2361 gånger

Utloggad Alex Duncan

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Hello from Australia,

I'm trying to track down the origins of my Swedish maternal great-great-grandfather, John Ostrom.  I have been unable to find immigration/emigration records or passenger lists that would help (some are close but that doesn't help with my question), but I do have a copy of his naturalisation application where he declares that he arrived in Australia on the City of Corinth in 1878.  His birthday was 21/5/1858.  I am trying to narrow down my search of parishes and so this is a geography question.

His naturalisation application, in his own hand, contains the place where he believes that he was born.  My interpretation of the handwriting is that this a place called Jedi By, but this does not seem to exist in modern Sweden?  I think "By" means village but seems to never be a separate word in the place name, but he was quite deliberate about it.  "Jedi" doesn't seem to translate to anything, but does provide amusing search results.

I have attached a portion of the scanned document, hopefully enough to see how he writes certain letters.  I had a theory that the second letter is not an "e" but a handwritten form of a letter that we don't use in English but it hasn't produced any leads for me.  This may not be old Swedish handwriting anymore and this is from his second naturalisation application (first one sank on a boat not far off our coastline, apparently) which he made when he was 52 and had been living in Australia for 32 years so is probably affected by that.

I have another theory, which is based on many DNA matches surrounding the Ångermanland region (but none have confirmed from their end when I contacted them) and also based on some "non-existent persons" (obifintliga) registers that mention a Johannes Åström with the same birthdate who was from Gideå, Björna.  Could Jedi and Gideå sound similar with a Swedish pronunciation?

The other possibility which I wish to explore is if this place name may have existed in 1858 or if it could be the name of a farm or if it is simply a generic reference to geographical feature (which then does not help me much at all, but at least I will know).

I'll be grateful to learn anything at this point, narrowing down the parish where someone was born and lived helps a lot in our research.  At least he was fairly clear about being from Sweden!

Thanks,

Alex

2022-07-29, 11:25
Svar #1

Utloggad Yvonne Stenberg

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The most likely John seems to be Johannes, born 21st May, baptized 23rd May 1858 i Gideå by (=village) in Björna parish in Västernorrland. His parents were Jacob Jacobsson and Anna Maria Åström. Johannes became a sailor, and in 1877 2nd Sept he took out a travelling document (like passport) for serving at sea. Fits your arrival date in Australia.

The pronounciation of Gideå is not too far from "jedi".

Johannes seems to have been absent from the parish thereafter and after his mother's death 1888 6th January he was listed in the book of "non-existent" so that fits in too.

Links to some records of this Johannes:

Birth:
Björna kyrkoarkiv, Födelse- och dopböcker, SE/HLA/1010017/C/2 (1851-1861), bildid: C0032693_00063

Household examination rolls:
Björna kyrkoarkiv, Husförhörslängder, SE/HLA/1010017/A I/8a (1872-1881), bildid: C0032689_00126, sida 142
Björna kyrkoarkiv, Husförhörslängder, SE/HLA/1010017/A I/9 (1882-1891), bildid: C0032691_00126, sida 130
Björna kyrkoarkiv, Husförhörslängder, SE/HLA/1010017/A I/10b (1892-1901), bildid: A0014104_00304, sida 684

Hope this helps,
Yvonne

2022-07-29, 12:48
Svar #2

Utloggad Ulla Lundell

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Hello Alex


I have found ot when the parents to your Johan died the father jacob jacobsson died in 20 of  February 1870 in Björna the mother Anna Maria died in 6 of January 1888 in Björna parich


All the best Ulla

2022-07-29, 12:56
Svar #3

Utloggad Alex Duncan

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Wow that was so quick, thank you so much, Yvonne (and Ulla as well -- I thought I would be replying under separate threads).  I can see where you got 2 Sept 1877 from and I could not work out what those words were or translated to so did not realise that was for a travel document.

Are there any registers or records that can be used to narrow down where their household might be in that parish or does that become too difficult around that time (keeping my questions to geography for the moment)?

Thanks,

Alex

2022-07-29, 13:26
Svar #4

Utloggad Yvonne Stenberg

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I'm not familiar with that area, but you can of course see where the village is in f ex Google Maps:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/896+93+Gide%C3%A5/@63.4403708,19.0846373,10z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x467b5df132366009:0x861af006cb5ef36!8m2!3d63.4802574!4d18.9734418

When they married 11th June 1838 they were both mentioned from Långviken in the same parish.

As to records of exactly where in the village they might have lived you need more information about them over the years and you need to know if they owned the house or rented. I guess someone with more knowledge of Gideå could help out there?

There are older maps available at Lantmäteriet but you need to know what you are looking after.
/Yvonne

2022-07-30, 05:21
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Utloggad Per Sundin

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 I find it difficult to decide where the family lived when Johannes was born and grew up. His father was called pauper. The children where born in Gideå according to the baptism register but the family at that time is placed in Långviken in the parish book all the time. All you can say is that they  where poor and probably lived somewhere in Gideå by (or Gide as it mostly is written to separate it from the adjacent parish Gideå) housed in somewhere, at a distant relative or "kristmild familj".

2022-08-01, 15:54
Svar #6

Utloggad Ewa Johnson

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riksarkivet.se Sjömanshus finns en John Åström f 1858 Björna.


Påmönstrad: 3/9 1877 i Örnsköldsvik.
Avmönstrad: 3/3 1878 i Montevideo (Rymd).
Båt: Balder.
Destination: Bordeaux.





2022-08-10, 16:13
Svar #7

Utloggad Alex Duncan

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Thank you so much, I have so many more questions but these answers have helped point me in the right direction for many.  I intend to visit Sweden soon, to at least get an idea of the area my ancestors lived but perhaps to search some physical records in Stockholm, Härnösand and Örnsköldsvik and perhaps graveyards around Björna and Gideå (any other suggestions are welcome).  Some of my questions are still geographical:

* Google Maps shows that there is a Gideå just outside of Björna, and then much further Southeast there is a more populated (in modern times) Gideå on a lake which has its own church that is older than Johannes.  But it did undergo a major renovation in his birth year of 1858.  There are a number of similar placenames along the Gide River, but I'm wondering if the Gideå just outside Björna is the more likely one as the birth is in the Björna parish rather than Gideå parish records?

* Is the sjömanshus a place where sailors would stay between voyages?  I have read that it provided a number of other services and that his home port is listed as Härnösand despite him registering in Örnsköldsvik.  I am interested in visiting the site where such a place existed -- there are some historical maps I can look at for Härnösand in the reading room in Täby in Stockholm before heading North but am I missing an easy online reference?  Could there be a list of locations (other than the city names) somewhere?  I know that there is a museum in Uddevalla but since they don't have any of the rolls for Västernorrland I am not sure that I will include it in my relatively short trip.  There are two Riksarkivet locations in Härnösand (I probably need to visit both).  The Härnösand sjömanshus was only withdrawn in 1969 so perhaps there is some visible evidence of where it may have been around the town.  I guess its office may have moved several times, but I would like to see what I can find.  On this map I can see the shipyard in 1857, but among other important buildings cannot find the sjömanshus but can find a street called Sjögatan (but probably only because it is closest to the sea, it has also since been renamed): https://historiskakartor.lantmateriet.se/arken/s/show.html?showmap=true&mapTypeSelected=false&mapType=&archive=LMS&nbOfImages=1&sd_base=lms2&sd_ktun=4c4d535f4c4a2d313336&aktid=LJ-136

There is another interesting thing about that map... there is a certain "Gädeå by" marked on it (but no buildings marked?) but is a lot further away from Björna and marked in seemingly the wrong direction (even though up is actually Northeast and the inset is different).  This spelling could explain why my ancestor's second handwritten letter is not clear although it seems to be an "i" in the record of his birth (and hopefully means nothing other than he was confused about that and the "g").

Also... a quick bit of research and a peek at Street View and it looks like the only part of the old town of Härnösand that might be somewhat preserved could be Östanbäcken.  I will keep searching, but I suppose if he decided to no longer be a sailor after six months then he would not have spent much time there.

Thanks,

Alex

2022-08-10, 17:17
Svar #8

Utloggad Bo Nordenfors

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You posted quoteGoogle Maps shows that there is a Gideå just outside of Björna"  unquote  - yes that is where you may go, not to Gideå parish and the church, Gide (Gideå) outside Björna belongs to Björna parish.
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