Alessandria (Egitto) Is this a city?

[Cheri Woods-Edwin]

Help! I am trying to trace my husbands Swedish ancestry and have very little to go on.  I have already posted some questions about the sir name EDWIN.  I now need help trying to find a location of where they might have come from.  I have an old photograph with the following information:
***S.Caruana
fotografo
Via Moschea Attarin
vis-a-vis al nuovo
tribunale
Alessandria
Egitto*****
Is there a clue to location?  Can anybody tell me what it says?  Any help would be very appreciated.  Thanks

[Solveig Qvarnström]

Hi Cheri, It surely isn't Swedish! The language is Italian, and it seems as if it*s an address to an Italian photografer in Alexandria, Egypt. Good luck with the research!
solveig

[Maud Svensson]

Hello Cheri,
The photo was taken in northern Italy. Via Moschea Attarin is a street in the town Alessandria. The photographer's name was S. Caruana.
 
I will try to find some information on Brant/Brandt Edvin/Edwin.
Best regards,
Maud

[Tord Påhlman]

Alessandria, Egitto definitely means Alexandria in northern Egypt, not Italy! There used to be a quite big Italian colony in Alexandria before the revolution, and many Alexandria-Italians were photogaphers. The Italian colony in Alexandria still exists, but they are not so many today. The word moschea in the street name means mosque. I donot think there used to be any mosques in northern Italy at the time. Attari is an arabic word and the name of a mosque in Alexandria, Egypt. The whole address sentence says Attari Mosque Street, opposite the new court, Alexandria, Egypt, a common way of giving an address in Egypt at the time. Can´t you show us the picture here in Anbytarforum?

[Maud Svensson]

Solveig and Tord are right and I was wrong. There is a town Alessandria in northern Italy but Alessandria, Egitto (Italian for Egypt) is of course Alexandria in Egypt.
 
Cheri, do you approximately know when your husband's ancestors emigrated?

[Niclas Rosenbalck]

Maybe your husbands ancestor, who went to a photograph in Alexandria, was a swedish sailor? Alexandria was a big port for the transit-commerce to the east and there was a swedish church founded for sailors; which was many staying at the port in the beginning of the 20th century. The Swedish institute in Alexandria still carries on some of the churchs tasks and also have their records over visiting swedish sailors!  
Do tou have any names and dates of your husbands ancestors? The name Brandtedvin is  maybe the surname Brandin?

[Cheri Woods-Edwin]

Thank you all for helping me out with my question.  The picture I have is indeed of a sailor.  I can't believe that something that has been a mystery for at least 50 years has been solved.  Thanks again! I was wondering if I could ask for another interpretation or information taken from the back of another picture? ( I only have 2 pictures to work with) This picture is of a woman standing on a cobblestone street with a church(?)with a clock on it.  The back of the picture says the following:
*Alf. Rohlander
fotograf
Westervik*
As far as the surname goes I am not sure what to think anymore.  It would appear that maybe a few stories have been made up along the way.  As far as I know my husbands great grandparents came to the states in or around 1870-1899.  From the ages on the birth certificate I have, it lists both parents birthlace as Sweden. the birth was 1901 and the parents were 28 and 32 years old.  I think they may have been married in Sweden.  Any further help anybody can give would be so appreciated!

[Tord Påhlman]

The text on your picture says: Alf Rohlander, photographer, Västervik. Västervik (old spelling Westervik) is a town in Sweden.

[Carl Szabad (Carl)]

The photographer Alf Röhlander in Västervik established as early as 1862 according to the list of Swedish photograpers that can be found in Rötter. He was still working there in 1899. Västervik is a small town on the Swedish east coast.
 
If you give us the names of your husband?s great grandparents it might be easier to help you with information about them.

[Nina M.Nordby]

Why don't you send them an e-mail and ask them if they might keep any old documents about Swedish sailors?
The Swedish institute in Alexandria:
http://www.swedinstitutealexandria.org/
 
institutet.alexandria@foreign.ministry.se

[Cheri Woods-Edwin]

Thanks again for all of the help! I have been looking at the suggested web sites all night.  Someone helped me on one of the other boards and it seems I have more information on the Family.  It seems that my husbands great grandmother was named Bertha Maria (Berg) Edwin was born in Vastervik in 1872.  Her father was Adolph Fredrik Berg and her mother was named Carolina Nilsdotter.  My husbands great grandfather was named Henry Edwin.  He was also from Sweden but it would seem that Bertha and Henry married in New York as she is listed as entering thru Ellis Island, but not Henry Edwin.  I have no idea where Henry Edwin is from in Sweden, only that he was born there!  From what I am gathering, Edwin as a surname is rare! Thanks again!

[Carl Szabad (Carl)]

Cheri! No Henrik (Swedish version of Henry) Edwin is found among the Swedish emigrants. Edwin (Edvin) is actually a given name in Sweden. It is uncommon, but not unique, to use a Christian name as a family name. It is possible that he had another family name in Sweden but dropped it when he left for USA and changed his second Christian name to a family name.

[Maud Svensson]

Cheri,
There are actually 15 persons with the surname Edwin in Sweden today. But since no emigrant named  Henry/Henrik Edwin could be found it is most likely that he had another surname when he left.  
Maybe someone could search the Emigranten-CD for Henry/Henrik Victor/Viktor Edvinsson/Edwinsson?