Looking for franz oskar winterstun (sp?)

[robin]

My grandfather was born in stockholm in 1881.  His name was franz Oskar winterstun (sp?).  He emigrated to Chicago and changed his name to Stone.  He died in 1934 in Chicago (I think).  If you can help me, I would appreciate it.  I don't think the spelling of his last name is correct, and I don't have any idea how it would be spelled.

[robin]

Here's another shot at getting some information.  Is it possible that the last name could have been spelled Vinnersten or Vinersten or Winnersten or Winersten?  I've looked through other common Swedish names and can't find anything like this last name.  Has anyone ever heard of this last name?

[Chris Troy]

Robin, Do you have any idea which year your grandfather immigrated to the USA?  It may be possible to find him on the Immigrant CD as you have his year and place of birth.
 
By the way, on this list is you must fill in your first and last name.

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Hi,
 
My maternal grandmother was married twice. I saw her name written as Mrs. Sara WENNERSTEN on her marriage certificate when she married my grandfather in 1905. Although I haven't yet found out her first husband's given name, I have done a bit of looking for WENNERSTENS in Chicago and found a few in the old city directories.
 
Could this be the spelling of the name? I have checked the censuses too, and everyone with that name that I was able to find seemed to be born in Sweden.
 
Judy

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Hi,
 
I had previously copied down a lot of information on WENNERSTENs while I tried to find out more about my grandmother's first husband. I checked that list again.
 
I found Franz O. WENNERSTEN in the 1912 Chicago City Directory. He may be in later years too, but that is the last year I wrote information about the WENNERSTEN name.
 
WENNERSTEN Franz O. clerk 121 N. State h (home) 21 S. Winchester Av.
 
This entry had both work and home information for Franz. He must have used the WENNERSTEN name for a while when he moved to the U.S. The sten part of WENNERSTEN means stone, so that's where he got his American name.
 
Judy

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Hi,
 
I was at that genealogical library on Saturday and looked for your grandfather in the Illinois death index. (The actual name of this index is: Death Index by Name--Illinois--Deaths 50 Years and Over) This index is on microfiche.
 
I found no matching people under Stone, but did find this:
 
WENNERSTIN Frans Oscar m/w Y-73 0001967 1935-01-04 LaSalle Waukegan
 
In English, this means: Wennersten, Frans Oscar, male/white, age 73, certificate #0001967, died January 4, 1935 , LaSalle county, town of Waukegan
 
 
The weird thing is that Waukegan isn't in LaSalle County, unless there is a smaller Waukegan there. I didn't check the map. I think his year of death is off a tiny bit too.
 
(Another genealogical society member said that if he did die in LaSalle county, you're lucky. She has gone to their genealogical society and they are incredibly helpful. A whole bunch of people just started looking and finding things for her.)
 
The spelling is also slightly different from the way it was in the directory. He was the only Wennerstin in a bunch of Wennerstens, so maybe it's a typo.
 
You might want to check a Chicago newspaper for that period to try to find an obituary. I can't always find my relatives, so maybe back then an obituary wasn't done so much. An obituary would name other relatives, though, so it's worth looking into. I think it is probably your grandfather, but you would hopefully recognize the relatives and could be more sure.
 
The address to send for the death certificate is:
 
Illinois State Archives
Archives Building
Springfield, IL 62756
 
I didn't send any money and they did send me the death certificate. I only asked for a genealogical copy. They didn't ask for payment, but did say that there was a charge for a certified copy. (You need that for legal reasons only.) I can't remember the charge for a certified copy.
 
I had to wait three months to get the certificate. Maybe the holidays slowed things down.
 
Judy