Gillberga, Värmland

[Carol Carlson]

What towns or farms, etc. would be within Gillberga?  I am looking for my great, great grandfather, Karl Nilsson, born October 16, 1865.  His wife said he was from Gillberga, Värmland.  I don't know if he was born there or just lived there for awhile.  I think his parents' names are Nils and Maja.  Karl Nilsson emigrated to the U.S. as a single man in 1891 and married in 1893 in Chicago, Illinois.
 
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Anders Andersson]

See  for a map of Gillberga parish, scanned from N. J. T. Selander's Karta öfver Sverige that was made in the 1880's (the small map is a hyperlink to a larger version of the same).
 
Also, there is a discussion dedicated to this parish here at Anbytarforum: Landskap: Värmland: Socknar: Gillberga, in case you would like to talk to the local experts.

[Carl-Johan Ivarsson]

I remember a question on Gillberga from Mats Romlin, referring to someone in America that tried to find her ancestry in Gillberga. I found a number of Karl Nilssons born in Gillberga 1864 and 1865 but no one seemed to fit perfectly with the dates given. I guess that this is about the same person.
Some short information on Gillberga. It is a parish in the Gillberga valley between Säffle and Arvika. Gillberga has about 1000 inhabitants today but the population peaked 100 years ago at 3000. It is mostly a farming area - but it is not comparable with the farmland of Skåne or Västergötland, though.
The church is from the 12th century. It is one of the oldest standing churches in Värmland.

[Mats Romlin]

Yes Carl Johan this is the same person we are speaking about,your memory works fine.I have tried to help Carol with this person but I have failed.Thank?s once again for the datas you gave me that time.
 
Best regards Mats Romlin

[Anders Andersson]

Have you tried finding Karl Nilsson on the Emigrant CD? It's of course a pretty common name, but the year of emigration should help, unless he travelled via Norway.

[Carol Carlson]

Hello, Mats!
I just find you everywhere I look for my Karl Nilsson.  By the way, I'm going to try to go the the FHL tomorrow and I will check for your Hedberg/Romlin people.
 
Thank you, Carl Johan for your information on Gillberga.
 
I have had someone check the emigrant CD but with no luck.  I wonder if he used a different name?  If either of you have that CD, could you check it for me again?  I don't know if he had a middle name or not and I've never been given the results for Karl Nilsson with a middle name.  He said he emigrated in 1891, so he may have left in late 1890 or any time in 1891.  
 
What is the best way to check emigration through Norway?
 
I think the best clue I have for him is his date of birth - October 16, 1865.  I am beginning to think that he did not go by the name Karl Nilsson in Sweden because I can't find him anywhere.  
 
When I go to the FHL, I am going to look very carefully through the clerical survey for Gillberga parish, checking every person's birth date, beginning in 1891 and going backwards.  It will be grueling work, but I don't know what else to do.
 
Thank you both!

[Anders Andersson]

In the hope that Karl Nilsson was still living somewhere in Värmland on December 31, 1890, I searched the 1890 census records for any Karl Nilsson born in 1865, and these are the six people I found:Karl Johan Nilsson, born 1865 in Bro, farmhand 1890 in Hammarsten, Grums, single Karl Nilsson, born 1865 in Köla, living 1890 in Skarbol med Noresund, Köla, married Karl Nilsson, born 1865 in Köla, farmhand 1890 in Skällarbyn, Köla, single Karl Nilsson Hedqvist, born 1865 in Ekshärad, living 1890 in Kyrkobyn, Lysvik, married Karl Gustaf Nilsson, born 1865 in Karlstad, vagrant day labourer 1890 in Karlstad, single Karl Johan Nilsson, born 1865 in Falköping, book-keeper 1890 in 3rd quarter, Kristinehamn, single Of course, if his name wasn't Karl Nilsson, then it's so much harder to find him. Unfortunately, the census records don't mention exact birth dates, only years, meaning that you would have to look up each person in the respective parish birth record, but if you think either of the above is a potential match, it may be worth a try.
 
The Emigrant CD lists the age of each emigrant, meaning that someone could search for, say, people who emigrated from Värmland county in 1890 or 1891 at the age of 25 or 26 years, irrespective of full name.  I have no idea how many persons that would be, nor do I have access to the Emigrant CD myself.
 
I recently asked a Norwegian researcher for help searching Norwegian passenger lists, but while some of them are actually available on the Web, he was just as unsuccessful as me in getting any useful info out of them, so I have no advice for you in that respect.  You could try Digitalarkivet yourself to see if you have any better luck.

[Anders Andersson]

I forgot one thing; by explicitely searching for someone named Nilsson in the 1890 census, you won't find any Karl living with his parents, as the children aren't listed with any surname at all.  By searching for any unmarried man named Karl and born in 1865, you get more than a hundred matches, including those listed with surnames.  If you are desperate, you may want to look through the records of those with no surname listed to see if they had a father named Nils.
 
Many people did in fact change their names upon arrival in America, but I suppose this was mostly as a matter of convenience, to make the name less awkward to use in an English-speaking context. Vilhelm Moberg's fictional character Karl-Oskar Nilsson changed his name to Charles O. Nelson, if I remember correctly. In case your ancestor had a difficult first name, I don't see why Karl would be much of an improvement. Nilsson makes a little more sense, but I think patronymic names were rather discarded in favour of names such as Lindberg or Svedell...
 
If you are looking for geographic proximity, Bro and Grums parishes are located not very far from Gillberga (to the east), and Köla comes next (to the north).