John Alfred NELSON, born 29 May 1852, Sweden

[Judie Cale Nelson]

John Alfred Nelson emigrated 1879 to America and went to Alaska in 1884.  His naturalization papers cannot be found at NARA.  He filed his Declaration of Intent in 1892 and became a citizen 1911.  He married Anastasia Petrova Pestriakov 1888 in Alaska.  Names used in the family were Oscar, Carl, Alfred, John, Frederick, Peter, Jean, Julia, Alma, Pauline, Maria.  He was a mariner, carpenter and worked on a fox ranch near Kodiak, Alaska.  Souces:  U.S. Census, National Archives records, Death Certificate

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Judie,
 
This man had a very common name. Where did he live before he went to Alaska?
 
Here is a maybe but you will need to check the parish records to see if the birthdate fits and if his name was Johan Alfred.
 
From the Emihamn database of CD Emigranten:
 
First name: J
Last name: NILSSON
Age: 27     Gender: M
Parish: GREDRYD     County: F (Jönköping)
Port: GÖTEBORG
Date: 1879 08 29
Destination: CHICAGO
Fellows: NEJ
Source: 13:581:6155
 
This person traveled to Chicago at the same time from the same county.
 
First name: E
Last name: LARSSON
Age: 21     Gender: M
Parish: ÅSEN     County: F
Port: GÖTEBORG
Date: 1879 08 29
Destination: CHICAGO
Fellows: NEJ
Source: 13:581:6156
 
 
NARA only has naturalization records made in federal courts and early naturalizations could be made in any type of court. (Most early naturalization records were very poor, but there are exceptions. The naturalization process was standardized across the nation in late September 1906.) The certificate is fun to have but it isn't one of the records NARA would keep. It would have been given to the new citizen. It sounds as if perhaps they had the important records, such as the Declaration of Intention, but those aren't usually helpful until 1906 and later.
 
If he naturalized in Chicago, records would be terribly incomplete. Look at this site which describes the naturalization records they have.
 
http://www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/Archives_/Archive_Holdings/archive_holdings.htm
 
I have a couple of Olsons who were really hard to distinguish from other Olsons in the Cook County naturalization index. I recognized my farfars brother only because one of his witnesses had Americanized his name to such an extent that it was obviously that person. I recognized my farfars record because I knew the date and court of naturalization. (My cousin has the original naturalization certificate.) Otherwise, we are faced with hundreds of John Olsons, Alfred Olsons, etc. with no identifying information such as address or birthdate/birthplace. Pray that your person wasn't naturalized in Cook County, Illinois.
 
Have you tried the records of the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center? I'm not sure if their holdings for Alaska are very good but if he lived at any point in the more Swedish parts of the country, you have a very good chance of finding his birth parish in the church membership records. However, the records themselves aren't online.
 
http://www.augustana.edu/swenson/
 
Good luck!
 
Judy

[Ted Rosvall]

In the EMIBAS database of Swedish Emigrants (due very soon in CD-format) I find the following individual:
 
JOHAN ALFRED NILSSON, sailor
born 1852 May.29. in Ålem parish (Hallans län)
emigrated 1888 Jan.13. from Rävemåla in Ålem parish to San Francisco, North America
He was unmarried.
 
Best wishes
TED ROSVALL

[Elisabeth Thorsell]

Ted, if you find Ålem in Hallands län, then there is a mistake in the database, as Ålem is in Kalmar län, on the coast of the Baltic.

[Ted Rosvall]

Elisabeth - right you are, indeedy!
Ålem is located in Kalmar län, and not in Halland's län. I read the H (Kalmar län) for an N (Hallands län) - which I blame on poor glasses...
But I should know that Ålem is in Kalmar län.
My mistake, mea culpa!
Best wishes
TED

[Britt Maria Ekstrand]

Det finns en Johan Alfrid född 18520529
i Rävemåla, Ålem sn(H).
Föräldrar;Nils Spelman, kronobåtsman
och hustrun Anna Cajsa Svensd. 40 år
Britt Maria

[Jan Ek (Janek)]

Judie et al,
 
Isn't it possible the marriage certificate could give more clues to where John comes from? Have you tried to locate that in Alaska? I guess it must be on file.
 
Or am I totally off?
 
Regards, Jan

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Jan and everyone,
 
The marriage application, IF it still exists, could be very helpful, but the certificate itself isn't going to have much in the way of genealogical information. I have found listings of marriage application films to order in the Family History Library Catalog, usually under the name of the county.
 
I have found applications for marriage on microfilm and those applications vary in usefulness. However, I have often found names of parents. (Often this provides the wrong patronymic name for the father. I think they probably asked for the name of the father. The person responded with a first name and they added the same last name the applicant for marriage had.)
 
Applications include ages, occupations, and sometimes (if we are very lucky) the parish in Sweden. Sometimes you can find a province, which is better than nothing, but often the location is only given as Sweden.
 
On the other hand, some marriage applications just provide the Americanized names of the couple,and their ages. The return tells us who performed the marriage and if we are lucky, the place (hopefully church) where the marriage took place.
 
Judy

[Sam Blixt]

Hello Judy,
 
In The database of PLF I found a notice about marriage:
18320608:Nils Jonsson Speleman,Båt:Rävemåla:Anna Cajsa Svensd.,Piga:Rävemåla
 
1832, June 8, married Nils Jonsson Speleman,Båtsman, Rävemåla Anna Cajsa Svensdotter, Rävemåla, both places in Ålem.
 
Regards
 
Sam