Nilsson, Louis f Dec 1856 emig to US 1880 as Nelson

[Ken Nelson]

Looking for data on my great-great grandfather Louis. Arrived in Chicago, and married a girl from Skien Norge in 1882, and after the great Fire, moved to Los Angeles Calif, heading a family of many generations of Nelsons, all born in Los Angeles. All these Nelsons have dark, curly hair, huge Popeye forearms, and the males look like  ( Google: Leonard Lewis Nelson, CHP Memorial ).  
 
His wife: Margarethe, of Norge, Telemark, Skien, Moen, f Sept 18, 1850

[Lena Thelin]

Hello Ken,
 
Do you have any more information regarding Louis? Louis is not a Swedish name so he must have had another first name. Have you checked Louis and Margarethes wedding certificate. In many cases the parents name are noted there and where they where living.

[Ken Nelson]

Tak so myka.. my Svenska is rusty, since last studies in 1970.  
 
During this era the Swedish government was getting tired of not being able to collect enough taxes due to the consequences of Swedish naming customs, and strongly requested many parents to give their children French and Russian names, and to adopt European custom for surnames. So Louis is not that odd for the period.  
 
Louis & Margareth were married in Chicago shortly before the Great Fire, and the records were lost.
We believe that many of his brothers, sisters, and cousins followed him to America, but he was the only one to continue Westward to California, and he did not maintain contact with his extended family.  
 
Rumour is that Louis was born on an island within 100 kM of Margareth's town of Skien, where most had physical features simular to his, but I haven't found this place yet.  
 
We have found postal envelopes addressed to him from passengers aboard a Swedish steamship line, but never from anywhere within Sweden. On the many US census entries for him, he's listed simply from Sweden, while Margarethe is noted from Norway.  
 
He was a man of mystery, and it doesn't help that his original surname was Nilsson. Luckily we have far more information about Margarethe.  
 
Thanks, from  Alberta, Canada.

[Britt Börjesson]

Hej,
I checked the CD Emigranten for men named Louis leaving Sweden. 653 Louis was found, 501 of these were listed with Amerika as home parish. There were some Louis Nelson leaving - all of them seem to have been home for a visit.  
Louis have never been a common male name in Sweden, until lately when immigrants from latin countries brought it. Still, it is too close in pronounciation to the female, quite common name Louise to really fit in on a swedish tongue. I would rather think that your ancestor was born Ludvig, or perhaps Lars or Love or something else.
That he should be born on an island within 100 km from Skien in Norway places him somewhere in the peninsula of Norhtern Bohuslän. I searched the CD for men named Louis leaving O län, and found only one leaving in time to get married in Chicago 1882: Jungman, Louis, 35, no parish noted, leaving Göteborg for New York 1881 13 23 (source code 17:121:7843). I can't see any reason though why this man should have called himself Nelson in USA.
Vänliga hälsningar
Britt

[Ken Nelson]

Some new data was found in a stamp collection, from the postmarks  etc. cut-out from envelopes sent from Sweden and Norway  from 1886 to 1931.  Sender information is gone.  Sent to Louis Nelson ( Nilsson)  
 
The Swedish mailings are from :  
Mollosund , Bohuslan, Gotalan, Sweden , period 1903 to 1915. The other verbal legend regarding Louis Nilsson is that he was born near Goteberg, and this location is a better fit than near Skien , Norway.  
 
It's possible that he met his wife Margit in the US, and not in Norway or Sweden.  
 
Louis had a relative  who later came to the US, and lived in his household as a child, possibly a niece. The name  taken by her in the US
upon entry was  
 
   Agnes Nelson Writtoff,  f  July 08, 1890
 
Many thanks for the help so far.

[Britt Börjesson]

Hej Ken,
Mollösund is located on the south  of the island Orust in the middle of Bohuslän - really not far from Göteborg. Perhaps a little longer away from Skien than 100 km but not that much. It seems as if you are getting closer. There are surely a lot of Nilsson in Sweden, but a limited amout of them in little Mollösund. It were a kapellförsamling (chapel parish) under Morlanda pastorat.
Good luck!
Britt

[Sven-Erik Sundqvist]

Hej Ken,
Lars is a Swedish name. It was usually translated to Louis in the US. In 1880 a Lars Nilsson, 23 years old, emigrated from Copenhagen to Chikago. He was a worker and from Sweden. They don?t tell where in Sweden.
Regards  Sven-Erik

[Dennis Karlsson]

I've found a Ludvig Nilsson b. 1856 dec 28 in Mollosund parish. Could that be him ?
 
Regards
 
Dennis

[Mats Ahlgren]

Ken
 
Some questions: Was Agnes later married to a Lang?
 
Did Louis and Margarete had an own daughter also named Agnes?
 
Where did they live in 1910?
 
Mats

[Ken Nelson]

Many thanks to information sent by PM from Dennis Karlsson, who makes an excellent case for the Mollosund Nilsson. In English surnames, Nelson is No. 6 behind Smith, Jones, and I know it's just as popular in Scandianian countries in small variants. I note than many in Mollosund have very dark or black hair, and this is a family trait. Except myself... I was Ken the Red, and now Ken the White. My sister is The Black and White, like the skunk.  
 
Mats asks a few good questions. Agnes did, indeed, marry a John Lang, and was raised as a daughter by Louis ( or likely Ludvig ) and Margit, but this was an informal adoption. Agnes lived in LA until her death in 1972; I am one of a few Caucasians that can claim to be a third-generation Angelino.  
 
There was verbal information that Agnes was born in Tacoma, Washington, US, but no birth certificates or baptismal records have been found to prove this, so her birthplace  and specific relationship to Louis is still subject to confirmation.  
 
In 1900 and 1910 Louis lived in Los Angeles, California.  
 
You are definitely helping my sister & I to get closer to our origins. Thank you all.  
 
               Ken

[Ingela Martenius]

Ken,
 
I'm very curious about your statement about Swedish naming customs (During this era the Swedish government was getting tired of not being able to collect enough taxes due to the consequences of Swedish naming customs, and strongly requested many parents to give their children French and Russian names, and to adopt European custom for surnames. So Louis is not that odd for the period.).
Where did you get this information?
 
Ingela

[Ken Nelson]

Naming and taxation statement was from my professor in Swedish at U of California, Berkeley.  
 
              Ken

[Anna-Carin Betzén]

Ken,  
 
As Sweden lost Finland to Russia in 1809, the Swedish government would hardly encourage Swedes to use Russian names in the 19th century! I've never seen children being given Russian names in Sweden at that time.  
 
French names and other unusal names did become more common when the church gradually abandoned the principle that fancy names were only for the upper classes, and let parents choose any name they liked for their children. I think it affected girls' names more than boys; some boys' names like Oskar, August and Emil did become popular but not Louis.
 
More and more people chose to abandon the patronymics for surnames, but this wasn't enforced until 1901.

[Ken Nelson]

Contributor Dennis Karlsson has found the most likely candidate for my Louis so far, a Ludvig Nilsson from Mollosund, so Anna-Carin's comment above may be closest to the truth of naming conventions for the time.  
 
The Mollosund website contained links to  photos of the local people, and my mother and I looked through them, looking for matches to my Nelson family facial features, as in the link to my Leonard Lewis Nelson given early in this discussion, and we found a Katrin. Her lower face is a good match to my  daughters Katrina and Melanie.  Now if I could only get a photo of her forearms!  
 
              Ken

[Ken Nelson]

Link to photo of my grandfather :  
 
http://www.camemorial.org/jpgs/htmprev/nelson38.jpg
 
link to photo of Katrin, Mollosund :  
 
http://www.mollosund.com/foretag/katrin.htm

[Mats Ahlgren]

Ken
 
Some more questions:
 
I can see in census 1900 that 1880 is given as immigration year for Louis, but in census 1920 is 1877 mentioned as immigrat?on year and 1883 as naturalization year. I have been told that it took 5-6 years from arrival to become a citizen, but that might be wrong.
 
You also mentioned that they moved after the great Chicago fire, but wasn't that fire in 1871?  
 
I haven't been able to find Louis in 1910 census in order to see if he has given another year for immigration. Wonder how he is indexed in Ancestry for that census
 
I think a search for his naturalization document in Cook county might give some answers.
 
Mats

[Judy Olson Baouab]

The Great Chicago Fire burned the 8th-10th of October 1871, so Mats is absolutely correct. This information is told to us every year in school and on the tv/radio news and in newspapers so it is hard to avoid that information when you live in and near Chicago, as I have all my 60 years of life.  
 
Here is one of many websites telling about the Great Chicago Fire.
 
http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/intro/
 
If that couple married in Chicago in 1882, the Great Chicago Fire didn't burn their records, but perhaps another fire did. Ken, the records could very well exist, but that sort of information wasn't required to be collected until decades later.
 
There is an online Illinois Marriage Index, which should be completed for that time period. I think they are working on the latter part of the 1890s right now. Remember that all marriages weren't recorded back then, except in churches and perhaps Justice of the Peace offices. (Justice of the Peace records were destroyed years ago.)
 
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/GenealogyMWeb/marrsrch.html
 
Judy

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Unfortunately, the naturalization records in Cook County, Illinois, where Chicago is, are quite poor. Look at this site to see what is on those records.
 
http://www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/Archives_/Archive_Holdings/archive_holdings.htm
 
You will find pages and pages of people with the same name in the indexes and there is little chance of figuring out which might be yours, since there are no listings of birthdates or even years, addresses, dates of emigrating, etc. I did recognize the record of my fathers farbror because the witness was the husband of his sister. I recognized that husband because he had Americanized his name (Aron Alfred Karlsson) to Alfred Crown. I only recognized my farfar because my cousin had his original naturalization certificate which included the date of the naturalization. I still can't find the naturalization records of some other relatives because of the lack of detail.
 
Later naturalization records in Cook County were more useful and early naturalization records in some parts of the U.S. were sometimes useful but naturalization records didn't become useful everywhere in the U.S. until late September 1906 when the requirements became standardized.
 
Perhaps the early church records, as found at the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, will be helpful to you, Ken. They have a website but the records themselves aren't online.
 
http://www.augustana.edu/swenson/
 
Judy

[Ken Nelson]

To answer the questions of Mats and Judy, more information follows.  Also, from Mats queries, I have remembered to update the contact information on the FTM Family Records Site that Mats keeps bumping into on the Internet.  The content of this site is from research as of 1998, and then I had to emmigrate from the province of British Columbia to its' neighbor to the East, Alberta, in search for employment. Moving around for better opportunities is in the blood.  In Canada, the provinces are physically larger than most European nations, so this isn't a trivial task.  
 
This research is a joint project of my sister and I, but she is 1300 kM South. She collects physical evidence, and I  digitize and organize what she sends me; I do the electronic searches.
 
Every so often I go visit her and we exchange copies of printed material. Her material goes into many boxes, which are safe from fire, flood, and earthquakes, but often get lost for years at a time.
 
Today's new material on Louis is just received by email:  
 
death of Louis Nelson : August 14, 1928 in  Los Angeles CA at age of 72
 
My sister does have  a copy of marriage certificate of Louis Nelson & Maggie Moen  , married in Chicago, Cook County, Ill, and it's in a box.   But the summary that she used to order the copy follows, and her comment :  
 
 They were even married by a dude named Nelson, but have not found anything on him yet. The transcriber wrote down that Maggie's maiden name
was MOAN, I recall you teasing about that one, LOL, but when I got the copy, it reads MOEN :-)!  
 
       GROOM                               BRIDE
NELSON, LOUIS                        MOAN, MAGGIE
 
COUNTY         DATE    VOL/PAGE    LICENSE
COOK        09/17/1883    /     00074618      
 
Mats other questions:  
 
5-6 years from arrival to become a citizen, but that might be wrong. No, this is correct.  1880 is the correct date of emmigration, so Louis' claim of naturalization in 1883 is wrong. However, if the transcript was mis-read, 1888 is highly probable.  
 
My sister is looking for her copy of the 1910 census, and will also get the naturalization record Mats refers to.  
 
My error was not checking the date of the Great Fire; I was taught this date in school many times, but  it was not as interesting as quantum mechanics, my focus many years ago.  
 
Regarding Maggie Moen and the name given to her by US Immigration, it resulted from a simplification of what she wrote on the ship's register when emmigrating from Norway :  
 
     Margith Sondresd. Moe(n)
 
and then she ran out of room on the form, and couldn't complete the farm settlement name.  
 
As many of you are aware, the name changes done by US Immigration are what makes this research so interesting. Luckily, in Canada, other than changes to accomodate the English alphabet, the names were uncorrupted.  
 
         Ken

[Ken Nelson]

Progress summary 22 Oct:  
 
Contributor Dennis Karlsson has located the best candidate to date for my Louis Nelson, a Ludvig Nilsson of Mollosund.  His brother Amandus ( 1863-1898) also left for America, but appears to have been returned to Sweden on way or another , and dying at age 35 in 1898 in either the US or Sweden.  
 
Dennis has also found living relatives, in Ellos, near Mollosund, who were corresponding with Agnes Nelson, who was raised as a daughter by Louis.  
 
Many thanks to all for the help so far.  
 
         Ken

[Ken Nelson]

Thanks to Hr. Dennis Karlsson above, a snail-mail discussion  between myself and a possible relative in Ellos has begun. The connection between families was through the person raised as the child of Louis/Ludvig Nilsson:  
 
 Agnes Nelson Writtoff, f July 08, 1890  
and my sister has just found a letter with the correct spelling :  
 
  Agnes Wretloff
 
I find that the name Wretloff was used by some early Swedish immigrants in Illinois and Minnesota, but the name  is most unusual.  
 
Any ideas on this new spelling?  
 
          Ken Nelson

[Mats Ahlgren]

Perhaps a search for Wretlöf could be an idea.
Not a common name but it existed in Swedish Census 1890.

[Mats Ahlgren]

This might be interesting, but needs more examination
 
From Ancestry.com
 
Tacoma, Washington Directories, 1889-91 Record  
about Frank O Wretlof  
Name: Frank O Wretlof  
City: Tacoma  
State: WA  
Occupation: laborer  
Year: 1890  
Location 2: 212 S 24th  
 
And from CD Emigranten
 

 
 
 
Mats

[Mats Ahlgren]

Ken
The above mentioned Frank Wretlof is found in Census 1920 under the name Frank Wacplof, Flint, Genesee, Michigan.
 
1930 is he indexed as Frank Wietloff, still in Flint, Genesee, Michigan
 
A Frank Wretlof is buried in Flint 1932, but his year of birth is given as 1868 and that is a decade wrong.
(http://www.rootsweb.com/~mifgs/cemindex/newpubs/worg-yeaf_1.html)

[Mats Ahlgren]

I'm not sure if I'm following a wrong track, but if Frank is intereting, then the following might be as well.
 
On the same day as Frank's second trip is the following man also leaving Sweden, he's source code is also the number after Frank's,so they might be related
 

[Judy Olson Baouab]

If you use the Emibas database from CD Emigranten (the one for Göteborg) and enter Wredlöf, there are these hits.
 
Name: AUGUSTA JOSEFINA WREDLÖF  
Gender: K     Born: 1865-08-04
Parish: GBG:S DOMKYRKO     County: O
Move parish: GBG:S DOMKYRKO     County: O
Move year: 1883
Title: FABRIKSARBETERSKA     Civil status: OG
Home parish: GBG:S GAMLESTAD     County: O
Resident: 18 ROTE 6:1
Date of emigration: 1889-08-02     Age: 23
Alone/Family: ALONE
Dest country: AMERIKA     Country code: AM
Main document:      Document No: 035
 
Name: CARL AUGUST WREDLÖF  
Gender: M     Born: 1856-03-21
Title: BOKHÅLLARE     Civil status:  
Home parish: GBG:S DOMKYRKO     County: OA
Date of emigration: 1883-03-08     Age: 26
Alone/Family: ALONE
Dest country: AMERIKA     Country code: AM
Father: ANDERS WREDLÖF
Mother: EDELA ANDERSDOTTER
Main document:      Document No: 057
 
Name: JOHAN FREDRIK WREDLÖF  
Gender: M     Born: 1843-12-26
Title:      Civil status: OG
Home parish: GBG:S DOMKYRKO     County: OA
Resident: GÖTEBORGS DOMKYRKO AI:3
Date of emigration: 1864-05-17     Age: 20
Dest country: AMERIKA     Country code: AM
Father: ANDERS WREDLÖF
Father?s title: FABRIKSARBETARE
Mother: EDELA ANDERSDOTTER
Main document:      Document No: 032
Note: SEE DOCUMENT
 
Enter Vredlöf and this person shows up.
 
Name: JOHN EDVARD VREDLÖF  
Gender: M     Born: 1861-09-27
Parish: GBG:S DOMKYRKO     County: O
Move parish: GBG:S DOMKYRKO     County: O
Move year: 1883
Title: MURARE     Civil status:  
Home parish: GBG:S HAGA     County: O
Resident: NYA HAGA 16
Date of emigration: 1887-03-22     Age: 25
Alone/Family: ALONE
Dest country: NORDAMERIKA     Country code: US
Father: ANDERS VREDLÖF
Father?s title: MURARGESÄLL
Mother: INGER STINA ANDERSDOTTER
Page in household examination roll: 1409
Main document:      Document No: 067
 
 
Only these two can be found on the Emibas cd which was released in August.
 
Post 703581
 
Wredlöf, Carl August
Bokhållare (man)
 
b. 3/21/1856
 
Emigrated 3/8/1883
from Göteborgs domkyrkoförs, Göteborgs och Bohus län (Västergötland)
to Amerika
 
Source: Emibas migration file ID: Göteborgs domkyrkoförs O 1883 057
 
Post 698383
 
Wredlöf, Johan Fredrik
Unmarried man
 
b. 12/26/1843
 
Emigrated 5/17/1864
from Göteborg Domkyrko Ai:3, Göteborgs domkyrkoförs, Göteborgs och Bohus län (Västergötland)
to Amerika
 
Source: Emibas migration file ID: Göteborgs domkyrkoförs O 1864 032
 
This man shows up under Vredlöf.
 
Post 711653
 
Vredlöf, John Edvard
Murare (man)
 
b. 9/27/1861 in Göteborgs domkyrkoförs, Göteborgs och Bohus län (Västergötland)
 
Emigrated 3/22/1887
from Nya Haga 16, Göteborgs Haga, Göteborgs och Bohus län (Västergötland)
to Nordamerika
 
Source: Household Examination Roll, p. 1409
 
Emibas migration file ID: Göteborgs Haga O 1887 067
 
Un-normalized versions:
 
Parish of birth: Göteborg Domkyrko
 
Judy

[Mats Ahlgren]

So,it looks like that we can't show that Frank O Wretlöf and JE Vredlöf/Wredlöf are close related. We can then concentrate on Frank, that was in Tacoma, to try find where he came from in Sweden
 
Mats

[Ken Nelson]

Hej! Mats & Judy  
 
Mats, I have read your research work on another site, in Swedish, and I already knew you were really good at this.  Thanks to Judy as well. I'm sending this off to my sister, who has research material from Tacoma and area, and lives only 1000 kM from there, which is a short distance for we North Americans.  
 
The Tacoma connection is a very hot lead, as Agnes was listed from one source as born  in the state of Washington.  All the alternate spellings from the homeland help as well, as I can use Soundex equivalents from that point.  
 
As the Governor of California would say, I'll be back.  
 
           Ken

[Mats Ahlgren]

Ken
 
A very long shoot, but I can't just let it go.
 
This lady lives in Tacoma  
Tacoma, Washington Directories, 1889-91 Record  
about Charlotte Moen  
Name: Charlotte Moen  
City: Tacoma  
State: WA  
Year: 1891  
Location 2: e s South O bet 10th and 11th  
 
I have also found a Charlotte Moen arriving to New York Sep 16, 1879. Born 1854. Unfortunately does it say she is american, but...
 
A Charlotte Moen from Norway, born 1854 pops up in different census, but I haven't followed her(yet)
 
I know that Margareth had another name than Moen according to your description so this might be totally wrong, but do you know Margareth's family and if she had a sister?
 
Rgds
Mats

[Ken Nelson]

Hej Mats!  
 
I don't think you sleep at all, but I appreciate it.  
 
A lengthly search through census data and ship lists for Norway resulted in not one, but two possible Margits, from nearby villages,  born a few years apart, and nearby final destinations in the US,  and I have the sisters and brothers for both.  
 
This gives me a choice of Aaste, Kristi, Aasne as sisters, and  Ole or Knud as brothers. My sister is researching an emmigrant Ole who corresponded with Margit for many years, and other data suggests that Margit #2 is my best bet, but I won't make the choice until my sister finds a specific envelope with a relative's full name on it, living in Skien, that she put away in 1994. I'm very patient.  
 
The Moen, is, of course, a wild goose chase, because for all the likely settlement names either Margit could have used as her last name on the ship's register and for  US immigration, the name is incomplete.  
 
Any of the Charlotte Moen 's could be the mother to my Agnes, and the one located  in Tacoma, WA, while Agnes was a wee infant, is a best bet to date.  Agnes appears to have lost her mother at an early age, and was likely taken in by a close relative.  
 
Any ideas on what Swedish given names might have turned into Charlotte during this period?  
 
Following are short partial descendant lists for my two Margits; my intent is to have all relatives of both alive circa 1920 in order to match up to  mailing addresses in Skien and area, Norway.  
 
        Ken    
 
 
Target  Margit :  
 
Margaret Moen     f  September  18, 1850,   Skien, Norway  
 
************************
 
Margit #1  
 
Descendants of Knut HJERBJORNSEN : partial record  
 
       
 
 1   Knut HJERBJORNSEN 1786 - b: 1786 in Moe, Tinn, Telemark, Norway  
..  +Margit SONDRESEN 1793 - 1863 b: December 25, 1793 in Bakkejord, Tinn, Telemk, Norway d: January 27, 1863
........ 2   Signe KNUTSON 1817 - 1864 b: November 13, 1817 in Moen, Tinn, Telemark, Norway  d: 1864 in Tinn,              Telemark, Norway
........ 2   Sondre KNUTSON 1820 - b: February 07, 1820 in Moen, Tinn, Telemark, Norway  
............  +Aagot Brynildsdatter 1822 - b: June 23, 1822 in Tinn, Telemark, Norway  
................... 3   Margit Sondresdatter 1850 - b: September 11, 1850 in Tinn, Telemark, Norway  
................... 3   Aaste Sondresdatter 1852 - b: Abt. 1852 in Tinn, Telemark, Norway  
................... 3   Knud Sondresen 1863 - 1878 b: November 26, 1863 in Oyan,Tinn, Telemark, Norway  d: August 15, 1878
........ 2   Oystein KNUTSON 1820 - b: December 12, 1820 in Moen, Tinn, Telemark, Norway  
........ 2   Aase KNUTSON 1823 - 1823 b: February 07, 1823 in Moen, Tinn, Telemark, Norway d: April 10, 1823 in Moen, Tinn,              Telemark, Norway
........ 2   Herbjorn KNUTSON 1824 - b: February 01, 1824 in Moen, Tinn, Telemark, Norway  
........ 2   Ola KNUTSON 1826 - b: September 10, 1826 in Moen, Tinn, Telemark, Norway  
........ 2   Margit KNUTSON 1833 - b: November 21, 1833 in Moen, Tinn, Telemark, Norway  
........ 2   Aagot KNUTSON 1835 - b: February 05, 1835 in Moen, Tinn, Telemark, Norway  
***************
 
 Margit #2  
 
Descendants of Thone Johnsdatter  : partial  
 
       
 
 1   Thone Johnsdatter    
..  +Sondre Olsen 1809 - b: Abt. 1809 in Vinje Praestegjeld ,Telemark,Norway  
........ 2   John Sondresen 1836 - b: Abt. 1836  
........ 2   Bjorn Sondresen 1842 - b: Abt. 1842 in Vinje Praestegjeld ,Telemark,Norway  
............  +Ragnhild Tellefsdatter 1847 - b: 1847 in Nessedals Praestegjeld  
................... 3   Tone Bjornsdatter 1869 - b: 1869 in Roulands Praestegjeld  
................... 3   Sondre Bjornsen 1871 - b: 1871 in Vinje Praestegjeld ,Telemark,Norway  
................... 3   Tellef Bjornsen 1873 - b: 1873 in Vinje Praestegjeld ,Telemark,Norway  
........ 2   Kristi Sondresdatter 1845 - b: Abt. 1845 in Vinje Praestegjeld ,Telemark,Norway  
........ 2   Margit Sondresdatter 1848 - b: August 05, 1848 in Vinje Praestegjeld ,Telemark,Norway  
........ 2   Aasne Sondresdatter 1852 - b: Abt. 1852 in vinje Praestegjeld ,Telemark,Norway  
........ 2   Ole Sondresen 1834 - b: Abt. 1834 in Vinje Praestegjeld ,Telemark,Norway  
............  +Joraand Halvorsdatter 1839 - b: Abt. 1839 in Vinje Praestegjeld ,Telemark,Norway  
................... 3   Halvor Sondresen 1864 - b: Abt. 1864 in Rauland Telemark Norway  
........ 2   Anne Sondresdatter 1844 - b: Abt. 1844 in Vinje Praestegjeld ,Telemark,Norway

[Mats Ahlgren]

Ken
 
The following is from Svensk Befolkning 1890 (Swedish census 1890)
 
Post 2732326
 
Wredlöf, Frans Oscar
handlande (merchant)  
 
f. 1858 i Göteborgs domkyrkoförs (Göteborgs och Bohus län, Västergötland)
 
Ogift man, ensam i familjen (unmarried man, alone in family)
 
Qvarstående obefintlige sedan åren 1883-1890
Göteborgs Haga (Göteborgs och Bohus län, Västergötland)
(non existing during the period 1883-1890 in Göteborg Haga)
Födelseort i källan: Gbgs Domkyrkoförs.
(Place where he was born in original source Gbgs Domkyrkoförs)
 
Looks like he didn't signed out in a proper way when he left.
 
But now we might be able to find him in Göteborg
 
Mats

[Chuck Mäki]

There's a lot of data here so I just zeroed in on these names:
I did the check for Moen plus the Wretlöf.
Looked in pnw14, pnw24, pnw12-2, and pnw13, all Tacoma WA but found naught so I will post my negative findings.
 
Happy boxing day there in Canada.  Still can't understand why you guys to go a gym and beat each other up  
If you have other names, let me know via email.
 
Chuck

[Ken Nelson]

My wife & I moved from America to Canada , in part, to the difference in interpretation of this day from that imposed by America/Hollywood : from
Urban Legends website :  
 
But before you read this website definition, keep in mind that, in Canada, many school children still make up shoebox gifts for those less fortunate in other lands.  
 
This last week, I hope you all have been spending as much time with relatives still living as we have, and are resting up from the researches into the land of the dead. To productive digging in 2006!  
 
   Many Thanks,   Ken & Cheri Nelson
 
Boxing Day
 
Claim:   The name of Boxing Day comes from the need to rid the house of empty boxes the day after Christmas.
 
Status:   False.
 
Origins:   Few Americans have any inkling that there even is such a thing as Boxing Day, let alone what the reason might be for a holiday so named. However, before one concludes we're about to rag on Americentric attitudes towards other cultures, we should quickly point out that even though Boxing Day is celebrated in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and Canada, not all that many in those countries have much of a notion as to why they get the 26th of December off. Boxing Day might well be a statutory holiday in some of those lands, but it's not a well understood one.
 
Despite the lively images suggested by the name, it has nothing to do with pugilistic expositions between tanked-up family members who have dearly been looking forward to taking a round out of each other for the past year. Likewise, it does not gain its name from the overpowering need to rid the house of an excess of wrappings and mountains of now useless cardboard boxes the day after St. Nick arrived to turn a perfectly charming and orderly home into a maelstrom of discarded tissue
paper.
 
The name also has nothing to do with returning unwanted gifts to the stores they came from, hence its common association with hauling about boxes on the day after Christmas.
 
The holiday's roots can be traced to Britain, where Boxing Day is also known as St. Stephen's Day. Reduced to the simplest essence, its origins are found in a long-ago practice of giving cash or durable goods to those of the lower classes. Gifts among equals were exchanged on or before Christmas Day, but beneficences to those less fortunate were bestowed the day after.
 
And that's about as much as anyone can definitively say about its origin because once you step beyond that point, it's straight into the quagmire of debated claims and dueling folklorists. Which, by the way, is what we're about to muddy our boots with.
 
Although there is general agreement that the holiday is of British origin and it has to do with giving presents to the less fortunate, there is still dispute as to how the name came about or precisely what unequal relationship is being recognized.
 
At various times, the following origins have been loudly asserted as the correct one:
 
    * Centuries ago, ordinary members of the merchant class gave boxes of food and fruit to tradespeople and servants the day after Christmas in an ancient form of Yuletide tip. These gifts were an expression of gratitude to those who worked for them, in much the same way that one now tips the paperboy an extra $20 at Christmastime or slips the building's superintendent a bottle of fine whisky. Those long-ago gifts were done up in boxes, hence the day coming to be known as Boxing Day.
 
    * Christmas celebrations in the old days entailed bringing everyone together from all over a large estate, thus creating one of the rare instances when everyone could be found in one place at one time. This gathering of his extended family, so to speak, presented the lord of the manor with a ready-made opportunity to easily hand out that year's stipend of necessities. Thus, the day after Christmas, after all the partying was over and it was almost time to go back to far-flung homesteads, serfs were presented with their annual allotment of practical goods. Who got what was determined by the status of the worker and his relative family size, with spun cloth, leather goods, durable food supplies, tools, and whatnot being handed out. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obligated to supply these goods. The items were chucked into boxes, one box for each family, to make carrying away the results of this annual restocking easier; thus, the day came to be known as Boxing Day.
 
    * Many years ago, on the day after Christmas, servants in Britain carried boxes to their masters when they arrived for the day's work. It was a tradition that on this day all employers would put coins in the boxes as a special end-of-the-year gift. In a closely-related version of this explanation, apprentices and servants would on that day get to smash open small earthenware boxes left for them by their masters. These boxes would house small sums of money specifically left for them.
 
      This dual-versioned theory melds the two previous ones together into a new form - namely, the employer who was obligated to hand out something on Boxing Day, but this time to recipients who were not working the land for him and thus were not dependent on him for all they wore and ate. The box thus becomes something beyond ordinary compensation (in a way goods to landed serfs was not), yet it's also not a gift in that there's nothing voluntary about it. Under this theory, the boxes are an early form of Christmas bonus, something employees see as their entitlement.
 
    * Boxes in churches for seasonal donations to the needy were opened on Christmas Day, and the contents distributed by the clergy the following day. The contents of this alms box originated with the ordinary folks in the parish who were under no direct obligation to provide anything at all and were certainly not tied to the recipients by a employer/employee relationship. In this case, the box in Boxing Day comes from that one gigantic lockbox the donations were left in.
 
      More elaborate versions of this origin involve boxes kept on sailing ships:
      The title has been derived by some, from the box which was kept on board of every vessel that sailed upon a distant voyage, for the reception of donations to the priest - who, in return, was expected to offer masses for the safety of the expedition, to the particular saint having charge of the ship - and above all, of the box. The box was not to be opened until the return of the vessel; and we can conceive that, in cases where the mariners had had a perilous time of it, this casket would be found to enclose a tolerable offering. The mass was at that time called Christmass, and the boxes kept to pay for it were, of course, called Christmass-boxes. The poor, amongst those who had an interest in the fate of these ships, or of those who sailed in them, were in the habit of begging money from the rich, that they might contribute to the mass boxes; and hence the title which has descended to our day, giving to the anniversary of St Stephen's martyrdom the title of Christmas-boxing day, and, by corruption, its present popular one of Boxing Day.
 
Whichever theory one chooses to back, the one thread common to all is the theme of one-way provision to those not inhabiting the same social level. As mentioned previously, equals exchanged gifts on Christmas Day or before, but lessers (be they tradespeople, employees, servants, serfs, or the generic poor) received their boxes on the day after. It is to be noted that the social superiors did not receive anything back from those they played Lord Bountiful to: a gift in return would have been seen as a presumptuous act of laying claim to equality, the very thing Boxing Day was an entrenched bastion against. Boxing Day was, after all, about preserving class lines.

[Ken Nelson]

Okay, no further sociological or political comments then, eh?  
 
I have heard back from my new found relatives in Ellös, near Mollösund, and now have confirmation that their Ludvig Nilsson is my Louis Nelson, via handwritten letters, in Swedish, from my great-Aunt Agnes. She commented in her letter that she could not read the older script  used in letters to her adoptive parents, so sent them back to Sweden and Norway, after the death of these parents.  
 
She was born in Tacoma, Washington, of new immigrants from Scandinavia, either Norwegian or Swedish, but her letters to Sweden, of 1947, had no traces of Norwegian usage in them.  
 
I found her telephone directory entry in the phone book for Los Angeles, California, 1920, while she was still single, living at home with her parents, and working as a stenographer, and she used the middle initial R.  
 
This likely is for Redlöf or Retlöf, from her parents, as she did not have any middle initial or name on her death certificate, so I shall continue looking for her natural parents and their origins.  
 
Then, back to Norway to finish details on Ludvig's wife.  
 
   Ken

[Ken Nelson]

I now have the copies of the original 1900, 1920, and 1930 census for Los Angeles, and in 1900, Agnes is listed as Agnetta, age 10, and as a boarder; later listings had her as a daughter.  At the time, people could look after the children of those parents who were unable to care for their children temporarily, and these children would be boarders, from the rooming house term  room & board . Room & board  is paying for a place to sleep and at least one meal a day.  
 
Agnes described Ludvig & Margarethe as loving parents, so it's most likely that her biological parents were close friends of these two.  
 
          Ken

[Mats Ahlgren]

Ken
 
Looking at Census 1900, doesn't it say Agnes C (or a similar character)?
 
Mats

[Ken Nelson]

Hej Mats!
 
I believe you are correct. I thought that area had water damage, as with Louis just above, but the  
es part of Agnes matches the written es for James some lines above.  The writer's C matches throughout the document.  Interesting.  
 
The phone book entry of Agnes R. is very clear, but I just now checked the line above in the phone book:  
 
Nelson, Agnes C. domestic 110S S. Van Ness Av
Nelson, Agnes R. stenographer  935 E 12th
 
which I did not notice because I was reading right-to-left from the address section, looking for the address match to Louis Nelson, at 935 E 12th.  
 
Perhaps the person  typesetting this page switched the middle initials. I shall consider C correct.
 
Thank you for the correction.  
 
           Ken