Nilsson, Josef/Nelson, Joseph

[Christina Tuvesson Lindaryd]

I am helping a friend in the USA to find his ancestors. His great grandfather was Joseph Nelson, born in 1851 in Sweden. He married in Minnesota in 1879 and his first child was born in September that year. This means he should have arrived in the USA in the periode 1851-1878, with or without his parents.
 
I have been searching the Emigranten cd, but many of the harbours start their records abt 1869, so I cannot find him there. I don't find him in the immigration records on Ancestry either.
 
The only record where I can find him (Joseph P Nilson) is in Census 1880. There he lives with his wife Anna and his son George in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. In Census 1900, 1910 and 1920, Anna lives with her son or alone.
 
I don't know where in Sweden he was born. Does anybody know of a  Josef Nilsson, emigrating in 1851-1878?
 
Christina

[Mats Ahlgren]

Christina
 
It isn't that much info you have. In census 1880 is Joseph a bartender and just above him is the salon keeper, August Lidstrand, born Jan/June 1840 and immmigrated 1866. I wonder if it is any connections at all between August and Joseph.
 
Another family Lidstrand is also living in Canon Falls in 1900, John and Inga. I can see Inga on CD emigranten when she is leaving in 1871. She comes from Saleby ,R .
 
I don't know if this is worth to look at, but it might be one way to see if any info about Joseph might be found.

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Christina,
 
I tried to post the following yesterday but Anbytarforum wasn't working, at least for me.  
 
Perhaps he is this person on Emibas. He went to Germany but that doesn't mean he  
didn't then go to the U.S.
 
Post 302798
 
Nilsson, Peter Josef
Bondson (unmarried man)
 
b. 6/26/1850 in Mönsterås, Kalmar län (Småland)
 
Emigrated 8/4/1871
from Ingebo Nr 1, Mönsterås, Kalmar län (Småland)
to Tyskland
 
Source: Household Examination Roll, p. 312
 
Emibas migration file ID: Mönsterås H 1871 023
 
That name is VERY common, however.
 
Your U.S. friend should check the STATE censuses, taken in years that don't end  
with 0. In the case of Minnesota in the time period you mentioned, those  
censuses would be 1853, 1855, 1857, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895, and 1905.
 
Your friend should also check the marvelous records of the Swenson Swedish  
Immigration Research Center. Those records are not online, although they do have  
a website. The membership records (at least for Lutherans and the Covenant  
Church) are very similar to the husförhörslängd in Swedish records.
 
http://www.augustana.edu/swenson/
 
Those records (which the Swenson Center has) are also available in Sweden at  
this archive.
 
http://www.utvandrarnashus.se/eng/
 
Judy

[Karen Kelsey]

You might get more information about Joseph from the local history museum in Cannon Falls.  The on-line death databases start too late if he died between 1880 and 1900, but there might be records kept at the local historical society, or even at the state historical society in St. Paul.  If he had a death registration, then you should find his place of birth, or at least his actual birth date, from either his death certificate or his obituary.  Those little MN towns often ran huge obituaries that were filled with information and praise of the person.  I've gotten a lot of things from local societies that help me find ancestors.

[Christina Tuvesson Lindaryd]

Thank you everybody. I was interested to hear about the STATE Censuses, but where can I find them? Are they online? I can find some state censuses on Ancestry, but not Minnesota.
 
Christina

[Judy Olson Baouab]

State censuses are usually not online, although apparently you found some.
 
Most can be ordered from a Family History Center.
 
http://tinyurl.com/359a5
 
Some aren't there, but all can be found here.
 
Minnesota Historical Society
Minnestota History Center
345 Kellogg Boulevard West
St. Paul, Minnesota 55102-1906
 
Obviously, this part of the search is going to be more easily done by your U.S. friend.
 
I agree with Karen's statement that local historical and genealogical societies are often very useful.
 
Judy

[Judy Olson Baouab]

This part of the website for the Minnesota Historical Society lists their censuses, and says it loans its census microfilms through interlibrary loan. It also has a link in case your friend wants to have them do that research, for a fee.
 
http://www.mnhs.org/genealogy/family/genieguide/census.htm
 
Judy

[Karen Kelsey]

Where does your friend live, & did the family stay in Minnesota - or did they move west?  That might be a clue as to where Joseph P. Nilson (Nelson) might have gone.  Was George Nilson his grandfather - the son that was listed on the 1880 census? Or was his grandfather/grandmother their 2nd or 3rd child? Did the family keep NILSON as their surname, or did they change it to Nelson? Your friend should search in the U.S. records for his grandfather/grandmother, then go backwards in time. Find his grandparent in the 1930 census, then 1920, etc. When you get back far enough, you can usually find where a grandparent died, then find an obituary that tells when their parents died.

[Karen Kelsey]

I forgot to give you the website of the Cannon Falls, MN historical society.  I received a lot of help from someone there, and it may have been the person who is listed on this website. (It was a long time ago, so I cannot remember her name.)  http://www.citlink.net/~cfmuseum/
That should lead you to the Cannon Falls link, with some e-mail addresses.
    Also, if your friend sends me an e-mail with more information about where the family ended up, and what their names were, I might be able to help (if I have time) on my next trip to MN Hist. Society.

[Christina Tuvesson Lindaryd]

Karen,
 
sorry for not answering before.  
 
1. According to the family, Joseph went to the gold fields and never returned. We have a photo of wife Anna from 1898, made in Inglewood, CA. In Census 1900 she lives with her son in Republic, Washington State and the records say she's widowed. I guess that they moved west together and that Joseph continued to the gold fields.
 
2. Anna had 3 children, but only the youngest survived. He's my friend's grandfather.
 
3. The family's name is Nelson nowadays.

[Karen Kelsey]

I found Anna and Frank in Washington's 1900 census, but could not trace them after that date.  I assume that they stayed out west? There is a chance that Anna's obituary would have the date of death of her husband in it. I cannot find an on-line death index for Washington state. Perhaps someone knows where to find one?  Otherwise, you must look at the Ferry County, Washington historical society to find Anna's date of death (or the soc sec death index if she lived that long), and then search for an obituary. I do not know if they stayed in Washington. Her husband might have died CA - and I cannot find an on-line death index for either CA or WA (that includes death prior to 1900).

[Christina Tuvesson Lindaryd]

In Census 1910, Anna lives with Frank and a man called Carl K Nelson, boarder (COULD be Frank's relative) in LA City. She stays in California and dies there, in Rosemead, 1954.
 
I know, there is a problem that you cannot find the death index prior to 1900. As the records say that Anna is a widow in 1900, I guess that Joseph died in the periode 1898-1900.