Wahlberg/Valberg

[Don Carlgren]

In a bouptekkning from 1811 in Strömstad, my ggggrandfather seems to have died in Wahlberg--if that's actually what the record says. The only Valberg I can find in Sweden is near Karlstad. Does anyone know what parish it would have been in?

[Marianne Ljunggren]

Hi Don
Have you tried with Varberg. Seems more natural. it is not long from Strömstad.
Greetings
Marianne Ljunggren

[Don Carlgren]

The most likely seemed Varberg on the west coast--but it's south of Göteborg. Isn't Karlstad quite a bit closer? But, I haven't any idea what transportation existed in 1810 from Strömstad to Karlstad--perhaps none?

[Ingela Martenius]

Distance Strömstad-Karlstad (as the crow flies) is approx. 150 km.
Distance Strömstad-Varberg (also as the crow flies) is approx. 220 km.
There was quite a lot of communication between Värmland/Dalsland and northern Bohuslän/southern Norway, and not very much between (northern) Bohuslän and Halland.
 
So perhaps Vålberg (because that is what I think you mean, Don - there is no Valberg outside Karlstad) is not so very unlikely - except that it has never been a parish on its own. And on such an important document as a bouppteckning it says which parish someone died in, unless it was the home parish (or perhaps, home church district (a church district, (kontrakt), is made up of several parishes, and is under the direction of a rural dean, (kontraktsprost)). If it was the home parish they could write the name of the farm or village instead, but they wouldn't have written just the name of a village outside of the deceased's parish.
 
What does it say in the death record?  
 
Perhaps you could scan the relevant part of the bouppteckning and post it here?
 
Ingela

[Don Carlgren]

I put the bouptekkning on line for assistance from another site. The Wahlberg as a possible death location came from there. But the closest I could find was Valberg, near Karlstad. Here's the link. Wahlberg is in the first paragraph.
www.4shared.com/dir/1762449/989ff9d8/sharing.

[Bo Johansson]

It looks like Wahlberg is a smaller place under some other placename (Sjöstafa??).
 
Svenska Ortnamn 1999 has 3 Valberg and 12 Valberget in Väastra Götaland county, but if this Wahlberg is a very small place it might not be in the CD, or the name could have changed since then.
 
// Bo Johansson

[Britt Börjesson]

Wahlberg is under something, but there is also another word after this (Sjöstafa?) that I can't read. Perhaps someone else can? There is also a title before the name, can that be a clue?


 
 
Valberg, Valeberg, Valberget are quite common placenames in Bohuslän.  
Britt

[Elisabeth Thorsell]

The text goes  
Lagel. Bouptekning hos Enkan Anna  
Andersdotter efter dess wid Wahlberg under
Sjöresa genom döden [den 18 October 1810] wådeligen omkom-
ne man Borgaren härstädes Johannes  
Corneliusson, som efter sig lemnat
 utom Enkan et under ägtenska-
 
That is legal estate inventory was taken at (house of) widow Anna Andersdotter after her at Walhberg during a sea voyage, the death  (on Oct.18 1810), accidentally killed husband the Burgher here Johannes Corneliusson, who left excepting the widow one during the marriage ...
 
The English gets a bit convoluted when trying to do an exact translation, but the meaning is that Johannes died near Wahlberg (Varberg) during a sea voyage, possibly a shipwreck.

[Don Carlgren]

Thanks again. Bo assisted on the other site; this last by Elisabeth seems right--Johannes had a burskap, so the burgher would probably be appropriate and a death at sea for a mariner as well. I'll see if there is any note in Genline of the death at Valberg--the one along the coast. But I'll never know how you were able to read the Sjöresa.

[Elisabeth Thorsell]

Well, reading the old script is a thing that needs a lot of practise and practise again, which I have after many years of reading old documents.  
 
But don't hesitate to publish pictures of old script, there are many here that will help.

[Britt Börjesson]

So, he died in an accident at sea near Wahlberg. There are plenty of mountains, rocks, islands along the coastline named so, since they look like whales. I know of one in Kungshamn and one in Lyse and know I would find many more if checking the maps. There is also a part of Dalsland close to Strömstad called Valberg. The accident might just as well have happened on a lake there, which is perhaps more possible than further south in Halland in a city that if so must have been misspelled.  
Britt

[Don Carlgren]

I checked in Genline for both Karlstad parishes, and for the two in Varberg. None show a death at the right time. Would a death of someone from out of the parish normally appear in the church register? I'd like to figure out which of these it is. I'm guessing that Valberg and Wahlberg have identical pronunciations, and Varberg would be a mistake? But would an accident on a lake be referred to as an accident at sea?

[Ingela Martenius]

In Swedish it doesn't say accident at sea. It says that he died during a sjöresa - but sjö in Swedish is the generic term for large body of water and could mean either sea (hav) or lake (insjö).
E.g. Karlstad is situated at Lake Vänern, one of the largest lakes in Sweden.
 
I still think that he died close to Strömstad since the bouppteckning doesn't specify another parish. The bouppteckning had to be registered at the appropriate district court (häradsrätt) and I don't think the court would have been very happy if they didn't know where he died, so presumably Wahlberg was known to them. If he died in another county, I think there would have been even more remarks about it.
 
Don, have you asked anyone to have a look at the district court's records? If there was an accident at sea, there may have been some sort of case - if only to decide that it was indeed an accident and that no one was to blame.
 
Ingela

[Don Carlgren]

It hadn't occurred to me. Where does one find the district court records? Karlstad? Time to order a film from the FHL? I see most start after 1810. but there is one called renoverade domböcker. It says it is minor court records. Right place?

[Britt Börjesson]

What does the household examination records, and the funeral book say about Johannes Corneliusson? There might be some note giving more information about this wådeligen omkomne (died by accident) man there. Depending of what happened, he might have been brought home for funeral, or he might be among the many thousand resting in the most beautiful grave of all, the sea. Also kyrkliga räkenskaper might give something, perhaps the widow gave something to the church in memory of him.  
Distrit court records for Strömstad is kept in Landsarkivet in Göteborg.
Britt

[Don Carlgren]

First, thanks to all of you for the help!! The HFL in Strömstad begins in 1811, showing just his widow and son. The church record of deaths doesn't have an entry at all. I looked at the church accounts a few years ago and didn't find anything for either him or his widow. Would the district court for Strömstad, or the one from the place of death, have the records?