John E Ahlström

[Tomas Andersson]

My grandmother's uncle, born Johan Emanuel Ahlström on April 12th 1885 in Hälsingtuna, Hälsingland emigrated to Minneapolis on November 17th, 1905 from Skönsmon, Medelpad. I found him on the Emigrant CD, but lost him from there. The information on the CD says that he left alone, from Göteborg and the destination was Minneapolis. Does anyone know anything about him?

[Tomas Andersson]

I forgot to mention that on the CD, his name is John E Ahlström.

[Helen Butler]

Tomas,  I found a John Alstrom in the 1920 Minnesota census in Beltrami County,(northern Minnesota who was a farmer with a wife and 4 children.  The only one in Minnesota index that fit the age and born in Sweden.  Also found a John E. Ahlstrom in the Minnesota Death Index that died in Minnesota (Chisago County)on oct 2, 1921.  But no further information as to birthday was listed.  You would have to get the death certificate for more informaion.

[Tomas Andersson]

Thank you Helen. With that spelling, I was able to find an obituary in Montesano, WA. Emanuel Alstrom died, 90 years of age, there. According to the obituary, he was born June 19, 1911 in Warren, Minnesota by John and Maria (Stolpe) Alstrom. There is no Warren in Beltrami county though.
 
Since the person I am looking for, had the name Johan Emanuel, it is very interesting to find someone named Emanuel, with a father named John. So far, this seems to be the best lead :-). The obituary mentioned a brother and a sister, and also a daughter.  
 
The link to the obituary: http://aberdeen.donrey.com/daily/2001/Dec-01-Sat-2001/obituaries/obituaries1.html

[Tomas Andersson]

Right now, it feel as if I'm never going to find my grandmother's uncle. None of the still living relatives has ever heard of him.  
 
I've checked his father's (Jonas Olsson Ahlström, b. Oct 3, 1858 in Ransäter, Värmland, d. Mar 4, 1931 in Skönsmon, Västernorrland) estate inventory, and he was not listed there. None of the previously deceased childen were listed there either.  
 
I also tried to find his father's obituary in the newspaper but there was none. It was not common for everyone to have an obituary at that time though.  
 
I ordered two death certificates from the Minnesota Historical Society but none of them was of the right age.
 
I discovered that one of his uncles, Nils Ahlström (b. Jul 31, 1865 in Ransäter, Värmland) emigrated from Ransäter in Värmland to Roche Percee, Canada in 1905. I tried to find him too, but no luck. I thought that maybe these two lost Ahlstroms in America could have had contact with eachother.  
 
I have contacted a library in Warren, MN, to try to find John Alstrom and Maria Stolpe, mentioned above here, but the lady at the library did not find them.
 
My wife is from a small town in Wisconsin and she remembered one Ahlstrom family there. I even contacted them, and to my surprise, their Swedish ancestor's name was also John. It turned out he was from Veinge in Halland though.
 
I've contacted living relatives of one John E Ahlstrom in Massachusetts but that turned out to be a dead end too.  
 
I've received help looking in the US censuses, but no luck there either.
 
I'm pretty much stuck in the mud here. Is there anyone out there, that could help me on track again? What are the other sources that I've missed?
 
I'm writing this in English, hoping that non-Swedes also can see this cry for help ;-)

[MaggieAndersson]

Guess you know about the mailinglists/messageboards for surnames at ancestry.com? Found a copy of the obituary in Montesano you mention there for example.

[Tomas Andersson]

I joined the mailing list for Ahlstrom at ancestry.com. I sent a message to it last year, and that is the only message since that. Needless to say, the list is not the most active one ;-)

[Maggie Anderson]

I browsed the messageboard of Alstrom and Ahlstrom but didn't find any information similar to yours. Thought the mailinglist and the msgboards were connected but obviously they aren't. Perhaps you should post on the msgboard.

[Tomas Andersson]

I've thought of posting there, but the problem is that I don't know where. The message boards seems to be organized in geographical areas, but I don't know where John actually lived. I saw that there is a general board for the United States but it doesn't seem to be very active.  
 
I posted a question about Nils Ahlström under Saskatchewas though, but no one has replied. That board does not seem to be very active either.

[Maggie Andersson]

The msgboard regarding surnames don't seem to be of any specific area, to me it seems like people from all of US is trying to locate ancestors and relatives. Try these links
 
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/board/an/surnames.ahlstrom
and  
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/board/an/surnames.alstrom

[Tomas Andersson]

Thanks a lot Maggie. I have posted a question at  the Ahlstrom board now, hopefully someone will be able to help me :-)

[Maggie Andersson]

I guess you are sure that Nils emigrated in 1905? Otherwise you might want to check this out
 
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/o/r/James-Doran/FILE/0048page.html

[Tomas Andersson]

Unfortunately, I know that he was still in Sweden at that time. He emigrated on April 7, 1905. Another guy from Ransäter emigrated at the same time, to the same place. His name was August P:son Skröder according to the Emigrant CD.

[Lars-Åke Carlgren]

Hi Tomas !
 
I suggest you use the message boards at www.genealogy.com. They are divided geographically, but since you don't know where they settled I suggest that you start at the Swedish forum at http://genforum.genealogy.com/sweden/. You can post any questions about Swedes there.
 
If you suspect they settled in Minnesota, try its message board as well (http://genforum.genealogy.com/mn/). It's more likely that you'll receive an answer if you post on a state than a county.
 
You can also post messages at the Ahlstrom forum, if there's one, but I doubt anyone will answer you. I have posted on several boards for family names and not even one response so far.
 
A general piece of advice is to be specific and ask about one person (or one family) not many. Well, that's my experience.
 
Good luck,
/Lars-Åke Carlgren
 
P.S. My email address can be found here: http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-genforum/email.cgi?066297683