Anna Dofsen -Born November 20, 1869 in Myrbacka?

[Christina Hwang]

Hello!  I am hoping someone will be able to help me get started with my search in Sweden.  I am looking for my GGgrandparents but am going to have to start with my GGgrandmother.  They were both born in Sweden but for him I have no info about where.  For her I have found some old family pictures and a postcard.  The postcard was from El Dofsen from Myrbacka to Olaf Dofsen (her brother?)  I know she had 4 brothers-Eric, John, Louis, and Olaf, and one sister, Carrie.  The heading under the picture on the front of the postcard reads EMAUS JARNA I DALARNE.  The postcard reads (forgive my spelling and not being able to make the special letters with rings):
 
Glad _ul ock gadt nyll
ar tillonskas eder fran
mor och mig E Dofsen
 
I also have some pictures that I think were taken in Sweden.  The names on the front are E. Eriksson (studio?) and Ofvanmyra (place?)  I guess I am wondering if Myrbacka and Ofvanmyra are near each other...I know I need to have the parish in order to be able to search for birth registry records, but am still learning all the place names are different...lan, parish, etc.
 
Does anyone have any ideas?  
 
Also, I know my GGgrandfather, her husband, was born July 4, 1865 and came to the USA in April of 1888.  They married over here in 1897, so I know she left Sweden before then.  His name was Louis Lars Lofgren.  Is Lofgren a common name for Swedes?  I am used to hearing about the difficulty with names because of the changes made because of fathers last names, and here I am searching for Lofgren and Dofsen, neither of which I believe change.
 
Thank you for anything you can do!
 
Christina

[Mats Högberg]

Hello Christina!
 
Right now I can only help you with the Swedish text from the postcard.
 
Glad Jul och Gott Nytt År tillönskas Eder från Mor och mig. E. Dofsen
 
means:
 
We wish you a Merry Chrsitmas and a Happy New Year.
Mother and me. E. Dofsen
 
The name DOFSEN does not sound too Swedish to me. The word sen means son in Danish and Norwegian. In Swedish it is son as in English, i.e. Anderson in Swedish is Andersen in Norwegian and Danish. Dof doesn't make me think of any name at all.
 
Regards - Mats Högberg

[Sven-Erik Sundqvist]

Hello Chritina,
On a CD called Emigranten I could find this:
In 1888 Olof Olsson Dofsén, 24 years old, emigrated from Järna to Portland.
In 1889 Johan Olsson Dafsén, 24, emigrated from Järna to Portland.
In 1889 Lars Olsson Dafsén, 18, emigrated from Järna to Portland.
In 1891 this family emigrated from Järna to Portland:
Olof Olsson, 32
Anna Olsson, 31
Stina, 12
Anna, 5
Gerta, 3 (should be Greta?)
 
I couldn´t find Erik or Karin (Carrie).
 
I could find only one Lars Löfgren and he emigrated 1881 from Täby, Örebro Län (T) to New York. He was 16 years old.
 
Regards  Sven-Erik

[Sven-Erik Sundqvist]

Sorry,
I forgot to tell you that Järna = Dala Järna is a parish in the district of Dalarna, Kopparbergs Län (W).

[Christina Hwang]

Mats!
 
Thank you so much for translating my postcard (and showing me how it was all supposed to be spelled!)  I had tried with limited resources (swedish dictionaries online) to translate but was never able to finish because not all words were listed.  I so appreciate it!  As for Dofsen, I think they were Swedish...that's what family history says, but maybe they moved from Denmark or Norway?
 
Sven-Erik!
 
I also want to thank you for looking all that up on Emigranten for me!  That was so great of you to take the time!  I was disappointed to hear about Louis Lars because I know he came in 1888.  In some old family stuff I came across a letter he had written To whom it may concern  (Me???) telling that when he emigrated from Sweden he arrived in New York on the 6th day of April 1888.  He then goes on to say that he went to these various areas during certain time periods and received his citizenship papers in 1896.  The interesting thing I found, though, was that the young man you found named Lars was 16 when he left in 1881...that means he was born in 1865, just like Louis Lars.  Puzzling...
 
As for the other names you found, I was excited because it doesn't sound like Dofsen is too common a name, so maybe that's them?  Wishful thinking, maybe!
 
Does anyone have any ideas for another route?  I also am wondering if anyone has heard of Myrbacka?  That name is on a couple of things I have so I am wondering if maybe that is where the Dofsens lived?  What about Ofvanmyra?
 
Thank you so much for your help, Mats and Sven-Erik!  I was so excited when I checked for responses!  You guys were quick!  
 
Christina

[Gunilla Johansson]

Hello!
I just want to tell you that Myrbacka is a part of (Dala-)Järna.
Emaus is also a part of Järna.
You can find Ovanmyra north of Rättvik. About 80 km from Dala-Järna.
 
Regards Gunilla Johansson

[Eva Dahlberg]

Hi Christina, it seems like the family name is Dofs?n, not Dofsen. This doesn't make much difference more than how you pronounce it (stressing the last half of the name in stead of the first) but it may also indicate that it isn't the -sen ending mentioned by Mats but a taken name.
 
I have a CD that covers all people that died beteween 1950 and 1999 (some 4.5 millions I think), however it only gives the names for those who died from Nov 1970 and onwards. In this period (end 1970-31 Dec 1999) only 3 people named Dofs?n died, 1 man, his wife and another lady who was widowed in early 1970. No Dofsen, Dafsen or Dafs?n (the name for Olle and Lars indicated from the CD Emigranten may be mistakes on the CD).
 
19091026-0652 (Personal Identity Number)
Dofs?n, Hans Gerhard
address: Gullmarspl 4 3 tr, 121 40  Johanneshov
 
Died 6/9 1982.
 
Living in the parish of Enskede, Stockholms stad, Stockholm county.
 
Born 26/10 1909 i Lindesberg parish (Örebro county).
 
Widower (18/4 1972).
 
The other man who ought to have been a Dofs?n was born on 6 June 1898 and died on 20 March 1970, in the parish of Norberg, Västmanland county. Place of birth isn't indicated
 
Both these parishes (Lindesberg and Norberg) - as well as Dalarnas county - have now delivered their church books from 1895 and onwards to the Regional Archives in Uppsala (Uppsala Landsarkiv), but should have copies on micro fiche (earlier material was delivered a long time ago, and is seldom found as fiche at the parish).
 
You find Uppsala Landsarkiv on e-mail landsarkivet@landsarkivet-uppsala.ra.se, the parishes you may find through the website of the Swedish Church it self. http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/sprak/engelsk.htm
 
However, when you click at Links to dioceses and parishes they only have the search feature in Swedish - so here is a short and quick lesson.
församling = parish; In the upper right corner Lista församlingar alfabetiskt = List parishes alfabetically  
 
Postadress = (snail) mail address
Postnummer och ort = zipcode and town/city etc.
Besöksadress= visiting address
telefon, fax and e-post  
red thing after some parish names = website available
 
Good luck !
Regards, Eva

[christina]

Thank you all so much for the help!  I am sorry it has taken me so long to reply to your posts but I have been away from my computer and just got back on.  
 
Gunilla-  Thank you for letting me know where those places are!  Now I just need to get on a good map to be able to see where they all are in relation to each other.  Right now they are just names...I want to be able to visualize!  Thank you so much for helping with that!
 
Eva-  I have a lot to thank you for also!  You are right about the accent in the name Dofsen!  I am so sorry but I didn't know how to type it on my computer!  I just noticed it on the postcard!  Since only 3 people with that name died in that 30 year time span it seems like it is not a common name!  When you say a taken name do you mean that they changed their name for some reason?  What reason could that be?  Is Dofsen even a Swedish name or is it possibly Danish or Norwegian like Mats thought?  
 
I also can't thank you enough for the e-mail addresses for all those places!  Now I need to sit and get organized once again and see what info I can get from those sites.  Thank you!  
 
Christina Hwang

[Chuck Mäki]

Hi Christina,
To make special characters for Swedish you can do this:
First press the ALT key and hold it down.  Then go to the number pad and press the 3 numerals and voila, you have it.
alt 129 = ?
alt 130 = ?
alt 132 = ä
alt 134 = å
alt 142 = Ä
alt 143 = Å
alt 148 = ö
and if you need it,
alt 0128 = ?
 
At least I am able to add to the mix