Svensson, Carl b1840 Sweden. Emigr 1861

[Brad Gallen]

Hej allihopa,
 
I know there are probably slim chances of anyone being able to help me based on my lack of specific information, but I thought I'd ask anyway, just in case  
 
I'm looking for info about my great-great-great grandfather Carl Svensson. He was born in 1840 and emigrated to New Zealand in 1861, but I don't know where he was born or which port he left from, and his arrival in New Zealand doesn't seem to be on any official records, as I think he may not have come through the usual immigration channels. The family story says that he was actually employed in 'the navy', so I don't know if that was any military navy or a merchant navy. I've also wondered about how many ships would have actually travelled from Sweden to New Zealand.. it can't be that many, can it?  
 
He is mentioned in 'Svenskarna i Nya Zeeland' by Sten Aminoff, with his occupation given as Farmer. I know that he was a farmer in New Zealand, but do not know if he was one while in Sweden.
 
The research I have done so far says his father's name was Johan, and his mother's name was Anna or Hannah (I'm not sure about Swedish spelling of Hannah, if it's the same or not!) Unfortunately I do not have any information on them or their marriage.  
 
Apparently he also had at least one brother, who's name is recorded as James, so again I guess this may have been something different in Sweden. James seems to have emigrated to the USA.  
 
That's about all the information I have that could be useful. When Carl arrived in New Zealand he changed his name to Charles Swanson, married and had several children (7 I think).  
 
So, yeah, it's a long shot, hopefully someone here might be able to add a little bit of information to my research  
 
Tack så mycket!
 
Brad

[Birger Bring]

Hi Brad,
 
Agree that this is a long shot. If your ancestor entered New Zeeland “through the backdoor” not using official channels we could not expect too many documents.
 
I searched Kalmar County for a Karl or Carl born 1840 with father Johan and mother Anna or Hanna (this is most likely the way it was spelled in Sweden) without success. However, Kalmar County is just a small part of Sweden so I'm not surprised.
 
 
I would guess that Carl was sailing in the merchant fleet, not in the military. If he had been a marine his name should have been different - not a son-name. Most young men, who enlisted in the army or navy, had to change names. Of course, he could have gone back to his original name if he jumped ship in New Zeeland, but as far as I know, the Swedish navy never sailed to New Zeeland.  
 
It should also be remembered that Swedish young men often served on board ships of foreign nationalities, British, Dutch and German.
 
 
It is a bit strange that his surname was Svensson if his father's given name was Johan. According to the naming convention back then he should be Johansson - son of Johan.
 
 
If he sailed on a Swedish ship Gothenburg should be the most probable home base, since this is the main port for overseas travel. As you say, there couldn't be too many shipping companies that sailed from there to New Zeeland in the 1860's.
 
 
 
One possibility is the CD EMIGRANTEN 1-2 / 2001, where there are files for sailors who jumped ships outside Europe for the period 1750-1950.  
 
 
Birger Bring

[Brad Gallen]

Hi Birger
 
Thanks so much for your response and information. Sorry it's taken me a while to come back, I was expecting the site to email me when I got a reply to my question. I came back to check on it because a distant relative in NZ that I didn't know I had also found the same post! We've made a connection and it turns out she has some more information although we're both stuck at this same point.
 
Yes the issue of his name is rather confusing - I had expected his father's name to be Sven, but it's listed in the book I mention above as Johan. Is it possible that the family had stopped using patronymic naming by then?
 
Your points about the nature of his naval service are interesting, if he was on a foreign ship then that opens up a whole bunch of possibilities, which I think might make it difficult, but I'll keep searching!
 
Thanks for the suggestion of the CD too, I'll see if I can hunt down a copy of that.
 
Cheers!
 
Brad

[Moderator USA]

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