Norwegian genealogy

I've been learning a lot about Norway and Norwegian genealogy this week, but just today I was overwhelmed when I got an e-mail from a guy in Norway who had information about my 2nd great-grandmother's father side, Johan Nilsen. He sent me a Word document that was mainly in Norwegian but I managed to translate it into English, at least for the most part. I also found a webpage that contained information on Julia's mother's side but I was definitely more interested in her father's side since I hadn't found any clues.

The funniest thing so far is that Johan Nilsen translated into English turns into John SMITH. Now whether that's just the simplest way to translate it or because Nielsen is a common name in Norway and Smith is so common here in the US that it just made sense I don't know. I sent the original Norwegian document to another guy who lives in Norway and he's going to see how it actually translates.

I have to say that the Norwegian people, at least those that I have talked to so far are not only very helpful but also very nice and forgiving especially since the naming practices are confusing and a bit intimidating. I'm looking forward to what else Harald is going to send me and who knows we may end up finding out that we're related. That would be the coolest thing I think. To actually have a cousin in Norway that I could write to.

Genealogy learning something new everyday

Its been a pretty good couple of days for me genealogically speaking. Turns out I had the WRONG passenger list for Julia because I didn't take into consideration that she would've most likely traveled WITH her husband and child. So again with some help from fellow researcher Robert, I managed to find Carl, Julie, Anton AND another child from Carl's FIRST marriage, Ole Gustav. Its seems they sailed NOT from Sweden, although that's where Carl was born, but from Norway, Christiania to be exact and arrived in QUEBEC of all places. Now from there I don't know exactly when they went to Chicago, which again was their final destination but they left Norway 15 April 1871 and arrived in Canada 22 May 1871.

I also discovered with a little help (more like a hint) that Julia and Martin had another sibling and it was actually a name I had picked out but wasn't quite sure she was the right one because much like the name Smith, there are a LOT of similar surnames (for lack of a better term) in Norway and Sweden and with the females keeping their father's names ever AFTER marriage makes it a little hard to find the right couple.

But the family arriving in Canada reminded me of something my Uncle Clarence told me once when I asked him about Great-grandpa Ring's siblings. He had mentioned (I think) that two brothers had 'died' and/or killed themselves in Canada. I don't know exactly what he told me only that he DID mention Canada. That made me think that perhaps Albert and James were born in Canada and THEN they came to Chicago, but I haven't found any birth records for them in Canada, or even Quebec. So I will have to try on Monday and Ancestry Library Edition.

In the meantime I am learning about the naming traditions in Norway and have joined two message boards that focus for the most part on Norwegian genealogy. Hopefully I'll find researchers there willing to help just like Robert.

Gotta love genealogy and instincts

It was an interesting weekend for me on the genealogy front. Facebook changed the design of the 'groups' so that they look like other pages and it makes it easier to post queries, especially for genealogy groups. So I thought I would try it out at the Norwegian group I joined some time ago. And between that and posting to a local message board I think I may have (with a LOT of help mind you) just cracked the mystery of my 2nd great grandmother Julia (Nielsen, Olsen, Johnson) Ring.

I posted my query first to the Norwegian group just to see if anyone had any suggestions. This was last week. After getting some suggestions and websites to try, I went to my library and used Ancestry Library Edition. There I found a passenger listed for a Julia Olsen who's final destination was Chicago. The time period when she left SWEDEN was right, but it didn't provide any other information. Upon a suggestion from a member I posted another query this time to a local message board, specific to Cook County, Illinois. I got some suggestions and provided additional information. One member on the board, Robert, took it upon himself to do some digging and like me went with intuition when looking for the elusive Julia and her first husband, who's name I only suspected was on the birth record of one of her sons.

This morning he sent me images of Julia's birth record and her name Julia JOHNSDATTER, as well as the birth record of Anton Julius Olsen, her first child AND her first husband Karl Peter Olsen. I was completely blown away (and still am) to the point I had tears in my eyes. This brick wall seemed to be getting higher and higher with no end in sight but thanks to Robert and his intuition I think I can (I hope) find other records including when Carl came to America because my ancestor, Albert John Ring, was born in Chicago and Carl IS his biological father.

There is still a mystery to be solved though; according to Anton's birth record, Julia and Carl Peter were married AFTER he was born (somehow I had a feeling about that). The mystery is how Martin, Julia's 4th and last child with Carl Peter, wound up with his father's name being Martin Olsen on the birth register. But I have found the records that Robert sent me at FamilySearch, now that we're sure they were born in Norway and NOT Sweden. That was the other sticking point to this mystery. The marriage record shows the names of their fathers so with that I can try to find their mothers and maybe Carl Peter's birth record.

Instincts and intuition are something all good detectives use when they have a difficult case they need to crack. The same holds true for genealogists since we are in a sense detectives ourselves. I've relied on my instincts more than once but this time I had to get some help and they were the ones that went with what their instincts were telling them and it paid off. I am more than confident that Robert found my 2nd great-grandmother, her first husband and their first child and I want to thank him for doing the digging in places he thought to go. This wall is slowly but surely coming down and once it does let the bricks roll. :-)

Genealogical instincts

I've been relying on my instincts as of late when it comes to my genealogy research. And lately my research has become a lot like a detective solving a mystery, maybe even like Nancy Drew, a favorite of mine. But I've recently been re-reading the Sue Grafton 'Alphabet' mysteries since her latest one the letter 'V' is due out this coming November. I'm up to 'G is for Gumshoe' and discovered just why I enjoyed reading the books the first time. Kinsey Milhone, the main character a private detective works in much the same way an amateur genealogist does. Unlike the police department which has access to records of all kinds, Kinsey and genealogists alike don't and have to rely on finding records and information in her case in other more creative ways.

But genealogists, much like Kinsey and even Nancy Drew have to also rely on their instincts especially when they encounter a new client or in my case a record that leaves me with some suspicion about whether its completely reliable. Sometimes most of the information within the record is so overwhelming as far as being convincing that instincts shouldn't play a part but do anyway. In most cases the particular record is the ONLY one that makes the most sense given what I happen to be searching for. Thus is the case of the Wilkins line that I believe is the maiden name of Mary Eliza (or Elizabeth), wife of MY John Robinson, parents of my 2nd great-grandfather Edmund Lowell Robinson.

None of the other names, dates, places or even families come close to making plausible sense other than John Wilkins and Harriet Sockett Francis who happened to have a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, born 10 Feb 1824. In fact, other than Mary and her 'brother' David Francis Henry, I haven't been able to track their siblings except in Canadian census records because Mary and David are the only ones that married. The more frustrating thing is David's wife's maiden name is, you guessed it Robinsons and her father's name is JOHN; her mother's name is MARY. That is the THIRD couple that share the names of my ancestors, with ONE difference, this particular John was born in Ireland and NOT England, which doesn't make him any easier to track, especially if HE was my ancestor.

I just find it completely ironic that the John Robinson I started out with wasn't mine and yet one actually ends up becoming linked to MY John Robinson because of marriage. My point is my instincts are telling me that John Wilkins and Harriet Sockett Francis ARE Mary Eliza's parents and not just because they happened to have a daughter with her name but because per David Francis Henry Wilkins' marriage record, two of her children are witnesses AND her MOTHER is prominent in the Canadian census records as either living with John Robinson and family or vice versa with them living with her. Either way, each census record has the senior Harriet (she had a daughter named Harriet as well) in close proximity to the Robinsons. I feel strongly enough that the evidence is enough to tell me that I can add the Wilkins and Francis names to my family tree. Unfortunately the other John Robinson's line traces further back but again is only linked to mine by marriage. The moral, your instincts are something you not only cannot ignore but can't take for granted either. If they are telling you that the line you are researching is connected to your tree, take the next step and find more evidence to convince yourself your instincts are right.

More Records with images at FamilySearch

About every month or so the website FamilySearch.org updates their databases of records and/or images and most of those updates involve adding more records to their growing collection. The records come from people that are 'indexing' those records so that us genealogists can search for information more quickly. Sometimes the updates also include adding images along with records which for me is a must when doing research.

Last week they did a little of both and for the past couple of days I've been searching for records, this time around its marriage record IMAGES for Ohio which include ALL counties. I see only one drawback to this addition of records and images. Usually you can save the particular image to your computer's hard drive, which is what I do, and then can crop and print it later so that you don't get a whole page of dark space which uses all of your ink. But with the marriage record images it isn't so simple. I tried doing it that way and unfortunately the images are too big to crop in the program I have (a basic version of Adobe Photoshop) and even if I print them full size, then scan them and THEN crop it down to the specific record (since the images are two pages containing several records on each) they are just unreadable. What to do?

The FamilySearch website as the 'print' option already there and you can print a specific area BUT be careful when doing this because even if you get a nice close up of the record you want it doesn't mean that when you go to print you'll be able to read it. Also if the record is in the middle of either page OR its an early marriage record, the page itself won't have source information on it so you have to click back one page to where that information is and make a notation on the printout.

The later records, like those AFTER say 1900 contain much more information, including the parents names of both the bride AND groom and also whether they (either or both) have been married before and what the status of that marriage currently is. (Remember just because it says one party is 'divorced' doesn't mean its written in stone). The later records also offer occupations of the prospective couple, which is sometimes interesting if you didn't already know what they did for a living.

Some researchers think going over and over the same information is a waste of time but I don't think that's the case at all. Doing repeated searches for some individuals can in turn help you find more information and in some cases information you didn't previously know about, like occupations. It pays to going over it again especially when websites like FamilySearch add records that include images. Don't always rely on the indexed records as they aren't always complete especially when the image itself shows more.

Logic or No Logic

Okay, I think I may have deciphered not only my John Robinson but also his wife, M.E. also known as (possibly) Mary Elizabeth WILKINS and her PARENTS. Believe it or not it comes from that marriage record I found recently that had my 2nd great-grandfather's sister and brother as witnesses.

Here's where logic comes into play, though it might be only my logic. I recently discovered a Harriet Socket FRANCIS, but I also discovered a Mary Talbot HARDING. Okay, you're thinking 'So what?' I had been going on the assumption that Harriet's MAIDEN name was Socket, but couldn't find any information on anyone with that name, which is when I found the Harriet Socket FRANCIS, daughter of David Francis. So, it stands to reason that if Socket wasn't Harriet's maiden name then TALBOT wasn't Mary Robinson's maiden name. And it turns out that it ISN'T.

The Mary Talbot Robinson in the marriage record who married John Robinson (apologies if it gets confusing) is actually Mary Talbot HARDING. Harding is her MAIDEN name and she's the daughter of Philip Patterson Harding and Esther TALBOT. So if Mary Talbot Harding wife of John Robinson and mother of Mary (Minnie) Talbot Robinson, and Harding is her maiden name, the logical assumption would be that Harriet Wilkins' maiden name is FRANCIS.

If you're confused I apologize, but the simple way to explain it is, the middle names that were listed for the mothers on the marriage record are just that MIDDLE names and not maiden name added instead of middle names. It also bears saying that the witnesses, St. George John WILKINS Robinson and Harriet Annie Mary Robinson would be natural choices because David Francis Henry Wilkins is their uncle, IF my logic is correct. Not only that but look at his name, David Francis; that is Harriet's father's name. Second, Mary Elizabeth Wilkins, daughter of John Wilkins and Harriet Sockett Francis, was christened at the same location as her mother. Third, after another look at the Canadian census records if you look at the religion of both the Wilkins and M.E. Robinson they are the same and her children also share it with the exception of John Robinson. But those too change in the 1861 census as they all have 'Church of England listed'.

I also happened to find a family tree at Ancestry for Mary (Minnie) Talbot Robinson, her parents, grandparents etc. Unfortunately it only had for her mother's side and not much for her father's. I thought if I found something on that John Robinson it would somehow connect back to my OWN John Robinson. But that John was born in Ireland so there can't be any connection except to when his daughter married David Francis Henry Wilkins. The only thing I haven't been able to figure out is WHY David was born in OHIO of all places. The other children of John Wilkins and Harriet Francis were born in England, only David was born in the US. The marriage record claims Charleston, Ohio, which is probably West Virginia, yet his death record from 1892 claims Cleveland. Either way, it seems the Wilkins were in the US between 1845-1850 before they appear in Canada for the 1851 census.

Once again more research is definitely needed but the pieces seem to be falling into place for all the parties except my John Robinson, which is unfortunate. I'm holding off on adding this recent info to my family tree (on my computer anyway) until I find something on him because if any of it turns out to be wrong I'll have to take it out and that is more time consuming on the computer than it is on paper.

Hot on the trail of John Robinson

Well, I think I may have cracked the case of MY John Robinson and I can honestly say I probably should've thought of this sooner. I went through the Canadian census records again and noticed something that I didn't really pay attention to when I first found Edmund. For each of the census records in 1851, 1861 and 1871, as well as the 1881, John Robinson and his family, as it grows is living with a Harriet WILKINS.

The first census, 1851 has the Robinsons living with John Wilkins, his wife, whose name I can't read and three children and much like the Robinson family they are listed under initials, which makes it that much harder to figure out what their names are, and all the more so when the handwriting is poor. John Wilkins is only listed in the 1851 census and I would assume he dies between then and the next census in 1861 because Harriet is the head of household (so to speak).

But the kicker is this, I was doing some digging on the Wilkins just to see if I could find some kind of connection and I still don't know what to make of what I found except that what I did find helps to explain why the Robinson children have so many initials. I found a marriage record and between FamilySearch and Ancestry (at the library) I managed to find an image. The index at FamilySearch only shows the bride, groom and their parents. But the IMAGE shows much more. Not only does it show the couple and their parents but also WITNESSES to the marriage itself. And those two are what have me thinking that the Robinsons and Wilkins are connected in more ways than just living in the same household during the census records.

One witness is St. George John Wilkins Robinson. That's right, that's his ENTIRE name. Believe it or not, that helps make sense of the initials for George in the 1861 Canadian census. Although they are very hard to read, I could make out G J W and the first one could be an S or even 'St.' The other witness is a name I'd seen before, Harriet Annie Mary Robinson, George's sister. That is the name listed in her OWN marriage record. But this particular marriage record the bride's name is Minnie TALBOT Robinson, her father's name is John (go figure) but her mother's name is Mary TALBOT Robinson. Minnie was born about 1858, so its entirely possible that she is Harriet and George's sister, but I'm still not sure about that.

The fact that both Minnie AND Mary have the middle name (possible maiden name for Mary) Talbot, tells me that they are connected, and obviously from the marriage record they are mother and daughter, but how are the witnesses connected to Minnie, John and Mary. Its also strange that the groom, David Francis Henry Wilkins was born, at least according to the marriage record in West Virginia of all places. David and Minnie were married in 1881 but David dies 3 July 1892, 11 days shy of their 11th anniversary. I haven't found any children yet but then I haven't located them in the 1891 Canadian census either.

Harriet's own marriage record, which I also got a printout of, shows her mother's name as Mary Eliza, but there is no maiden name listed. Then again there's no maiden name listed for the groom's mother either.

I really don't know what to make of the information on the marriage records and its unfortunate that the handwriting on the census records is so lousy AND that everyone is listed with initials instead of actual names. I have never liked initials especially when that's all you have to work with. It seems that Minnie is NOT a sibling of Harriet and George because then she would've been listed in the 1881 census with them. I guess all I can do is keep digging and go back to the library on Monday.

More later.