Emigrant CD Lookup Please: Anders Jonsson

[Heather Shepard]

Hello!
I was wondering if any one would be willing to look up Anders Jonsson for me?
 
He was born 15 Jun 1802 in Abborkarnstorp, Treskog, Gunnarskog, Varmland, Sweden.  He was living at Elofstorpet, Treskog, Gunnarskog, Varmland, Sweden at the time of his emmigration.  I think his attestation to work in America was 15 June 1870, and then it became official in 1872?  I get a little confused about what attestation means.
 
Any help would be wonderful!
Thank You!
Heather Shepard

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Emibas CD:
 
 
Post 766385
 
Jonsson, Anders
Änkling (widower)
 
b. 6/15/1802 in Gunnarskog, Värmlands län (Värmland)
 
Emigrated 1872
from Treskog Elofstorp, Gunnarskog, Värmlands län (Värmland)
to Nordamerika
 
0611872001 - Bilaga/ytterligare information finns. Kontakta Emigrantregistret i Karlstad
 
Source: Household Examination Roll, p. 689
 
Emibas migration file ID: Gunnarskog S 1872 001
 
I don't know about that word attestation, since it is probably a translation of a Swedish word I haven't seen. However, attest is a Swedish word for certificate, and those certificates were often issued so that someone could work outside the parish while they were still registered in the parish. (My understanding of this is limited.)
 
I don't see him on the Emihamn database, which probably means he didn't leave through a Swedish port. People in Värmland often left through a port in Norway.
 
Judy

[Judy Olson Baouab]

I think he probably received a different type of certificate (not a work certificate) to leave the country. He probably received a flyttningsbetyg, also called flyttningsattest or flyttningsbevis.
 
http://www.rootsweb.com/~swewgw/Emigr/thEmiTracDoc1.htm
 
http://www.rootsweb.com/~swewgw/Emigr/thEmiTracDoc2.htm
 
http://www.rootsweb.com/~swewgw/Emigr/thEmiTracDocB.htm
 
http://www.rootsweb.com/~swewgw/Emigr/thEmiTracDoc3.htm
 
 
Judy

[Heather Shepard]

Judy!
Thank you so very much.  
 
I have never heard of those other certificates.  That is new to me.  I am trying to learn!  
 
I will check out those other web sites, and other ports.  
 
I am glad he was able to be there when his wife passed away.
 
Thanks Again,
Heather

[Heather Shepard]

Judy,  
Wow!  I just checked out the explanation of flyttningsbevis on rootsweb.  That's amazing!  I didn't know about those at all.  It makes sense why they were needed.  Do I understand it correctly that these certificates were not saved?  Also, if there wasn't a notation recorded in the household records where a family moved to, is there any way to find the family elsewhere?
 
Thanks,  
Heather

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Those certificate links were from the SweGGate website, which has tons of useful information, mostly in English.
 
http://www.rootsweb.com/~swewgw/
 
The certificates were turned into the parish when the people moved within Sweden. Some have been microfilmed. Some churches in the U.S. kept them. My genealogical society has some for a Lutheran Church in Chicago. Others were used, probably, for the membership information found in the church records and then given back to the person.  
 
Read more about this using this url.
 
http://www.genealogi.se/roots/exit.htm
 
The author of that article recently died. You can see his photo and read about him on this site.
 
http://www.genealogi.se/roots/
 
There should be a notation of moves on the HFL and on the inflyttning/utflyttning (moving in/moving out) records, but if someone just left without properly notifying the parish, there won't be a notation. Eventually those people were moved to a different page in the parish for those who left without permission.
 
Look on this page from SweGGate. Move down to Obefintliga.
 
http://www.rootsweb.com/~swewgw/Church/thKyrGuiHFL02.htm
 
Judy

[Ingela Martenius]

Flyttningsbevis = migration certificate
 
A flyttningsbevis was issued - on request by the person moving out of the parish - by the parish office.
It is worth noting that smaller parishes sometimes did not issue their own flyttningsbevis, it was instead the mother church (the most important parish of the parishes that made up a parish district, pastorat, where the rural dean was located). My own great grandfather had a certificate from Stora Lundby while in actual fact he moved from Lerum; Lerum was one of the parishes in the parish district of Stora Lundby (to add to the confusion the parish district took the name of the most important parish).
Another note: when moving within a parish, no certificate was needed - pretty obvious. But also, when moving between the parishes in a pastorat (parish district), it was not uncommon not to issue a certificate, which means no entry in the migration rolls/ledgers. Suddenly your ancestor leaves with only a note of a farm name, a farm that does not exist in the parish. Solution: look at the other parishes in the pastorat.
 
People applied for a flyttningsbevis a week or two before actually moving. When the  certificate was issued, it was also entered in a ledger, under the moving out (utflyttning) column. With the flyttningsbevis in their hand, people then went to the destination parish. Here they reported to the parish office and left the flyttningsbevis; the staff entered all the certificates in a ledger like the one used by the first parish, but the entry was now - obviously - under the heading moving in (inflyttning).
 
It was important not to loose the certificate during the move. The police had the right to question anyone moving on the roads. You then had to produce evidence that you were on lawful business, such as moving to another parish (flyttningsbevis) or e.g being employed driving goods to a fair (proved by a domestic passport (inrikespass - mandatory for people moving outside their own parish until 1860).
If you could not show that you were travelling on lawful business and either could support yourself or were employed by someone, you would be arrested for vagrancy and sent to a workhouse.
 
You could not - while unemployed - move to another parish on the off chance of finding a job there. The new parish would not accept you, since the parish was responsible for taking care of those who could not house and feed themselves. So a parish could not just forward their poor people to another parish to relieve their own burden of caring for them.
Lots of people went on what is known as work walks (arbetsvandring); they walked to some big town or city (mostly Stockholm) and worked there for a season - but did not actually move there. The city parish was not obliged to care for them, they were still on the ledgers of their original (home) parish. For many, emigrating to America wasn't emigrating at all, it was just an extended work walk - and some 200.000 Swedes did return for good from America after having spent a few years working there (my own grandmother was one of them).
 
The moving certificates were usually saved by the destination parish. The migration rolls/ledgers are archived under the letter B; the actual flyttningsbevis under letter H.
 
However, the whole system fell apart when someone emigrated. A well-brought-up parishioner in Sweden couldn't imagine leaving the parish without a flyttningsbevis, and one was issued (because the clergy could no more imagine not issuing it). So with the all important flyttningsbevis anxiousy clutched in their fist they entered America...and gave the certificate to...whom?! Well, the authorities weren't interested (imagine the shock!). Some Scandinavian Lutheran churches accepted the certificates, perhaps because it simplified their own administration but I suspect mostly to be kind to immigrants anxious to do things properly.
 
There is usually a notation in the household records when someone moves. If there isn't, try first other farms in the parish, next the other parishes in the parish district (pastorat).
 
Ingela

[Heather Shepard]

Judy and Ingela,
Thank you so very much!  I have learned a great deal today.  I need to go over this information thoroughly.  Thank you!
 
Could there ever be an error in the household records for emmigration?
 
My third great grandmother, Inga Kajsa Andersdotter, emmigrated to America.  According to our family she came over as a widow and left a son, Anders, behind with relatives for a time until she sent for him later.  (I understand that our family stories could also be in error as well!)
 
On page GID 488.39.65800 (1866-1870 Elofstorpet, Treskog, Gunnarskog, Varmland, Sweden) there is a notation that Inga's family left for North America 3 Jun 1870 as a family.  
 
However, I MAY have found the immigration record of Inga Kajsa Andersdotter entering New York 5 Nov 1872 on the Celtic from Liverpool, England.  There is an Inga Andersdotter, Ida, and Nils mentioned.  That would fit with my families story of her coming over as a widow with Anders being left behind for a time.  
 
I do realize these are such common names, and may not actually be my family.  
 
Also, on the 1910 United States Federal Census record for Inga, her year of immigration is recorded as 1872.
 
I tried to find a death record for Inga's husband in the Gunnarskog parish between the years of 1870 and 1872 and couldn't find any.  I also couldn't find Anders living somewhere else.  I didn't get through all the farms in the parish though!
 
I am so confused, and unsure of what to try next.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
Thank you!
Heather Shepard