Kelsey/Kjelström family from Västmanland

[Karen Kelsey]

I am researching my husband's family, in preparation for another trip to Sweden in 2006. I received help with his Dahl (Larsson) ancestors, and now I will attempt to find his KELSEY ancestors.  Their name was changed in 1845 when they entered the U.S. at the Port of New York aboard an Irish ship.  The immigration officer listed them as Kelsey, and they kept that name.  I am giving you what I know, in hopes that someone can help me organize a search strategy that might lead to their Vastmanland origins.
    Here is what I have learned:
-The family (parents, two sons and one daughter) emigrated in 1845.  Obituaries say that they came from Vastmanland.
-Informal family histories say that their name had been Kjelström or Chelstrom.  I think it was the former.
-We do not know the names of the parents, and they died a year after their immigration.  The father had been a shoemaker.  Place of their death is unknown, but I've written to two Illinois counties where they may have died.
-THE CHILDRENS' NAMES WERE:
    1) JOHN OLIF KELSEY (or Kjelström) born 3-Feb 1832 in Västmanland.  Emigration 1845.  Lived in Henry Co. or Stark Co., Illinois in the 1850s, and learned his shoemaking trade from his father. Married in Stark Co., IL to Breta Johnson, another Swedish immigrant. They settled in MN, & I have requested his death certificate, and a biography of him that was written in 1915, but they have not been received.
    2) AUGUSTUS KELSEY (or Kjelström) born in 1834 in Västmanland.  (month unknown because I cannot locate him in the U.S. census after 1880.  He married in 1858 in Stark Co., Illinois and I have written for his marriage registration.  He settled in Linn County, Kansas prior to the Civil War, and was a farmer. Linn County was the site of a huge pre-Civil War battle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces, so Augustus must have had an exciting life. That area of the U.S. was called bleeding Kansas.  I don't know where Augustus died, but I have written to Linn County.
    3) JULIUS KELSEY (or Kjelström) born November 1840 in Västmanland, emigrated in 1845.  He married in Stark Co., IL, then farmed in Henry County, IL (next to Stark county). He moved to MN, and I've written to Henry and Stark Counties, and will write to MN to find where he died - and search for an obituary.
   I do not know the name of the daughter, since the search engine I used for old Illinois marriages searches only by groom.
   Please give me suggestions as to where I can search for more information.  I've written to all the counties they moved to, and searched old death databases, without luck in finding the parents' names.  I've searched for obituaries.  Any search strategy ideas?  Thanks in advance!

[Karen Kelsey]

I noticed that I made an error in my previous request.  The parents emigrated with THREE sons and one daughter, not two sons.
   I apologize.

[Inga-Lill Johansson]

Hello, can this be the family you're looking for?
Inga-Lill
(omit the ys it's a bug)
 
Carlsdotter, Christina Lovisay18370504yCyÖsterunda 1846
Carlsson, Gustafy18340312yCyÖsterunda 1846
Carlsson, Jan Olofy18320203yCyÖsterunda 1846
Carlsson, Juliusy18401120yCyÖsterunda 1846
Källström, Carly1798yCyÖsterunda 1846
Olsdotter, Stinay17960807yCyÖsterunda 1846
 
Källström, Carl
Soldat (married man)
 
b. 1798 in Torstuna, Uppsala län (Uppland)
 
Emigrated 5/25/1846
from Syllby egor, Österunda, Uppsala län (Uppland)
to Nordamerika
 
Source: Landsarkiv; Household Examination Roll, vol. Österunda AI:12, p. 108
 
Emibas migration file ID: Österunda C 1846 034
 
Un-normalized versions:
 
County of birth: Västmanlands län
 
Olsdotter, Stina
Soldathustru (married woman)
 
b. 8/7/1796 in Torstuna, Uppsala län (Uppland)
 
all children born in Österunda, Uppsala län (Uppland)
 
Carl Källström was a soldier, I found him here
http://soldat.dis.se/soldater.php
THE CENTRAL SOLDIERS REGISTER
 
Källström, Karl  
  Born:  1798  
   
  Wife:  Olsdoter Stina  
  Born:  1796-08-07  
 
   
  Regiment:  Västmanlands regemente  
  Company:  SALBERGS KOMPANI  
  Parish:  Österunda  
  File:  Syllby  
 
Document number: VR-04-0098

[Karen Kelsey]

I think this may be the family, although the U.S. census clearly reads that their year of emigration was 1845.  However, after living here for over 55 years, John Olif may have forgotten that detail.  I will not match this family for certain until I receive information from the many historical and genealogical societies that I have written.  If I knew exactly where they settled, I could search in the Swed Lutheran church records.  I will soon search for those names in the 1840s death index for both Henry and Stark Counties in Illinois, and I will post a note after their information is returned to me.  Thank you so much for finding this family.  So much matches about them that I think it will prove to be the correct family!

[Jöran Johansson]

A shot almost in the dark:
In 1880 there was book published in Chicago, Svenskarne i Illinois - historiska anteckningar (The Swedes in Illinois - historical notes). The text is in Swedish and there is a lot of misspellings and misunderstandings, but I think most of the information may be correct.
 
At page 234 it's said that Oct 3, 1846 there was a large number of immigrants, all from Västmanland, arriving at Chicago. They had intended to go to Bishop Hill, but in Chicago they changed their mind and stayed. Among them were Anders Larson, Jan Janson (brother to Erick Janson, the founder of Bishop Hill), John P. Källman (Chalman), Pehr Erson, Peter Hessling, A. Thorsell and a man named Kjellström. All of them were living together the first time in a house at Illinois Str, between Dearbon Str and State Str.
 
Thereafter some notes are made about a few of them, but Kjellström isn't mentioned anymore.
 
Regards
Jöran Johansson
 
012020122 (at) telia.takeawaythispart.com

[Karen Kelsey]

The emigration file that Inga-Lill Johansson found refers to our Kelsey family.  Thank you!  John Olif Kelsey's birth date matches.  Then I found reference to Augustus Kelsey in Google because he served in the Civil War, in the 6th Kansas Regiment.  He was captured, but lived through the war and is buried in Colorado.  The CO Veterans Grave Registration list gives his birth date as 12-MAR 1834 - so Augustus matches the entry for Gustaf Carlsson.  In fact, if I want to buy Augustus' uniform and gun, it is for sale at a C.W. site on the Internet - for over $5,000!
  Julius Kelsey's 1900 census entry says he was born in Nov. 1840.  So ... three of the Carlsson childrens' birth dates match, and I am satisfied that we have finally discovered our Kelsey ancestors in Uppland and Vastmanland.  Between their 1846 emigration and their marriages, I have found very little, but after that I have located the men in the censuses.  I have not yet found Christine Kelsey (married Harmon Hittenranch) in any census, but I will keep looking.  THANKS TO EVERYONE!

[Elisabeth Thorsell]

In Nils William Olsson's and Erik Wik?n's huge work The Swedish passenger arrivals in the United States 1820-1850 (printed in 1995) this family is found as emigrants #1369-1374 and they arrived in 1846 Sept. 15 on the ship Charlotte from Stockholm.
 
In the information are found the four above mentioned children, but also the following that remained in Sweden:
 
Brita Cajsa, born 1822 Mar. 7 in Torstuna
Carolina, born 1824 Jul. 24 in Österunda
Carl Erik, born 1826 Apr. 4 in Österunda
Anders Petter, born 1828 Sep. 23 in Österunda.
 
The family settled in Chicago, where the husband died 1847 Feb. 7, according to a letter from the widow to Sweden. The widow died in Chicago 1849 Aug.11 of cholera, and was buried at the expense of the county.
 
John Olif was named Jan Olof in Swedish.
 
Carl Källström (Kjellström) was born Carl Christoffer Ersson 1798 Aug. 4 in Lundby, Tillinge parish in Uppsala county, son of Eric Ersson, farm overseer (rättare) and his wife Catharina Hansdotter.

[Karen Kelsey]

Thanks so much!  I wonder how they got the name Kelsey if they came on a Swedish ship?  The story about being on an Irish ship at immigration entry was not correct.
   I just discovered that Julius Kelsey also served in the Civil War.  Since their father had been a soldier, I guess the children were not afraid of going off to war.

[Karen Kelsey]

We found a record for Augustus Kelsey (Gustaf Källström Kelsey) in the database for the Bishop Hill Swedish settlement in Henry County, Illinois. I cannot find the other three listed, but I think they lived there, since the Kelsey family history repeats that story.  The B.H. database information was found on the RootsWeb.com page.  How do I search in this forum for information about Bishop Hill? I cannot read Swedish to follow search directions, and I thought there might be some Bishop Hill information.  I know that it was formed in 1846, the same year that the Källström/Kelsey family came to the U.S.  They went to Chicago, but the children must have found their way to Bishop Hill after their parents died in 1847 and 1849.

[Eva Dahlberg]

Karen, you may look at the Instructions in English in the left-hand menu for search directions in you own language. There isn't much information here though.
 
regards,
Eva

[Elisabeth Thorsell]

Karen, this web site contains lots of info about Bishop Hill, and there are also other sites. You can easily find them if you do a Google search.

[Chuck Mäki]

Karen,
I may have communicated with you about this by email but I don't recall.
I checked churches in Henry County IL (none at Swenson records for Stark County)
I found a birth record on the film for the methodist church at Bishop Hill, IL which reads as follows:
 
Robert Alving, född 11/1 1876, döpt 20/2 samma år, son af J. E. Karlström och haus haustru Clara (uka tillhörand församlingen) - the bit within quotation marks was difficult to read.  Let me know by email if this fotocopy is of interest to you.
 
Chuck

[Chuck Mäki]

Thanks to Jöran's information, I managed to locate the Kjellström family church record in Chicago and not in Bishop Hill. Then I look at the cards again and oh no, I have written an email to Karen and have I the wrong people? I keyed on the Christina Lovisa Kjellström mentioned by Inge-Lill and accepted by Karen.  She is the only one so far so at least I do have her and her kids.
 
Christina Lovisa Kjellström, born in Österunda May 4, 1837; arrived in America 1846.  Married to Carl Fredrick Forsberg, born in Seglora April 23, 1825 and who arrived in America from Sandhera in 1852.  They were members of the Immanuel Lutheran Church of Chicago 1853-1880.
Children:
Christina Wilhelmina, born Chicago May 27 1859
Ida Otiliana, born Chicago Sep 29 1864
Carl Alfred, born Chicago May 21 1868
Edvard Julius, born Chicago Jul 15, 1871
Fredrik Wilhelm, born Chicago Jan 26 1874
 
Chuck

[Karen Kelsey]

Christina Lovisa Kjellström (or Källström or Kelsey) is the one child that I had been unable to trace.  I had found all three of the Källström's sons, but not Christina.  Thank you so much for finding the missing daughter!  And thanks to everyone else who has filled in the details about their emigration.  Some of that information was sent in a different part of the forum - under the history section.

[Karen Kelsey]

Here is another question. I cannot find the above-named Forsberg family in any of the late 19th century censuses, but I use HeritageQuest, which does not do soundex searches.  Could someone look for the Forsberg family using the Ancestry search engine??  Thanks in advance!

[Chuck Mäki]

Hej Karen,
I am delighted because I was disappointed that I hadn't found much about the boys because I actually thought you had everything you needed about the girl so odd how things happen.  
 
There is likely more on Carl Fredrik Forsberg in Immanuel Lutheran membership lists.  It didn't occur to me to check on him- story of my life but I can check him out tomorrow.  The card states that Carl and Christina were members so the page should give some good information.  
Chuck

[Karen Kelsey]

A copy of the church record for Immanuel Lutheran church in Chicago arrived today - via snail mail.  Thanks, Chuck, for this copy.  I never would have found Christina Lovisa Kjellström without your search of the church records.  Her brothers used the names Källström and Kelsey, but she continued using Kjellström. Now I know about her marriage and her five children, and I have located them in the 1870, 1880, and 1900 censuses so far.  By 1880, Christina was a widow with the 5 children, and worked as a washerwoman.  Some immigrants had such hard lives!
   Thanks again!

[Bob Nelson]

I just happened to come across this discussion and thought I'd add my 2 cents worth regarding the Bishop Hill Colony information and the Källström/Kelsey family.
 
As far as I know, none of the Källström/Kelsey family members lived in Bishop Hill or were members of the Colony. They stopped in Chicago.  They were, however, followers of Eric Jansson back in Österunda, according to the 1842-46 Husförhörslängd, p 108 and 109.
 
The original motivation behind the database was to discover who I was related to regarding the Colonists and other followers of Jansson who emigrated to America.  Since my own gg grandfather Eric Andersson Lindström, my fmff, came from Österunda, and lived about 2 km from the Källström family, I decided to trace the Källström family as back as far as I could to see if there were any connections.  As far as I know, there aren't any connections, but it seemed worthwhile to leave the family in the database in case connections would show up later.  It has happened with other family lines.
 
As far as information on the web site, persons who actually lived at and were members of the Bishop Hill Colony are designated as such in the Title section as B.H Colonist.
 
I also have a photocopy of some Källström/Kelsey family information submitted by a Kelsey descendant from Truman, MN to the Bishop Hill Heritage Association back in 1992.  Please let me know if you'd like a copy, just 3 pages.

[Karen Kelsey]

Yes, I would love to have a copy of the letter, and I will send an e-mail to you.  Also, I thank you for this information, which is the same conclusion that I had reached after scanning the 1850 census.  I know that the three sons were in Stark and Henry counties by 1852, but I do not think that they lived at the colony.  Instead, they lived near people who helped John Olif set up a shoe repair shop - probably in Stark Co (a man named Reed, according to family history.  After his marriage, Julius farmed in Henry County, but I have not done a study to see how close his farm was to the BH Colony.
   Did you find exactly where the Källströms lived in Sweden?  I know the town and parish, but not the farm number - if they were on a farm.  I assumed that they lived in the soldier croft that was in the town center, since Karl had been a soldier paid by the rote system.
   Thanks for answering.  I know that the Kelsey family felt that the sons went to BH, but I could find no evidence of that.