My Genealogy Home Page:Information about Karl Johan Nilsson
Karl Johan Nilsson (b. March 03, 1884, d. date unknown)
Notes for Karl Johan Nilsson:
The following is from an e-mail from his son, John Nelson, to his grandson, Jon Duncan, received 3/9/02:
In response to your questions on Nelson family history, I do not have much information. I do have the family bible but the entries were started by my father's mother and she did not enter the data on her parents or that on my grandfather's.
BORNDIED
Lars Johan Nilsson2/3/1849
Inga Amila Lundquist8/14/1852
They were marriedon December 31, 1878
They lived in the town of Norrkoping in Sweden. Norrkoping is near Stockholm.
There were five children born. The two girls died in infancy.
Eli Amila Nilsson3/16/1880
Anna Maria Nilsson3/11/18812/15/1893
Carl Johan Nilsson3/3/1884
Axel Olaus Nilsson5/10/1886
Gustaf Aldolph Nilsson12/31/1886
The Father and Mother both died when the boys were very young. I understand that Axel and Gus were raised by a different family from the family that raised my father.
Johan, Axel and Gustaf all emigrated to the U.S.
Johan changed his name to John. More on this later.
Axel also changed the spelling of his last name. Gus did not.
Axel Married Lilly Paterson on 5/07/1916. They lived in St. Paul, MN. Axel worked for the U.S. Post Office. Lilly had several family members that emigrated to the U.S. they lived in one of the mountain states where one brother was reported to have a 6000 acre ranch. I can remember her showing me a picture of their ranch.
Gustaf married Sigrid Maria Flink on 2/20/1918. They lived in Detroit where Gus worked for Miners Pies which became Continental Bakeries and is now Wonder Bread.
Neither Axel nor Gustaf had children.
My Dad was granted citizenship on March 13, 1919, in Chicago, IL under the name of Karl John Nelson. The data is recorded in Volume 108 v 26597 of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. I have applied for a copy of this data as there is a lot of useful information in the citizenship application. I have not received a response. I order to get a copy of this citizenship application you have to file under the Freedom Of Information Act. I have done this.
My father may have used the following names
Carl Johan Nilsson,
Carl John Nelson,
Karl John Nelson,
or various combination of the above
Another interesting thing. Your e-mail makes reference to ancestral ties to the Roosevelt family. Once my mother told me that we were also related to the Roosevelts through some Dutch relationship. I do not know anything more about this relationship. I would suggest that my Mom also told Aunt Elizabeth about this. As Liz is the family historian I would suggest asking her about it.
I will let you know what I get from the INS.
Also, I think I can fill in some of the missing dates.
Keep in touch
Uncle John [Nelson]
The following was posted on the Sweeden genealogy forum at genealogy.com in response to a query from Elizabeth Nelson:
Hi Elizabeth,
Names such as Karl Johan Nilsson are EXTREMELY common so these possibilities might not be yours. It is also very common that people say their ancestors came from Stockholm but aren't aware that there is a county of Stockholm too. There are also emigrants who said they came from Stockholm because that was the only place in the general area which their neighbors and descendants had heard about.
First name: KARL
Last name: NILSSON
Age: 26 Gender: M
Parish: STOCKHOLMS STAD (city of Stockholm) County: A (city of Stockholm)
Port: GÖTEBORG
Date: 1911 05 17 (date of registering with the police to leave Sweden)
Destination: WINNIPEG MAN.
Fellows: NEJ (Nej = no. He traveled alone on his ticket.)
Source: 95:565:15601
Here are the Karl Nilssons who emigrated in 1911 and were about the right age. The one I showed you was the best possibility.
NILSSON CARL 26 DRÄNGSERED N 1911 KANSAS CITY
NILSSON CARL 27 AMERIKA US 1911 ESSEX IOWA
NILSSON CARL DAVID 27 STOCKHOLMSST A 1911 BOSTON MASS
NILSSON KARL 26 STOCKHOLMSST A 1911 WINNIPEG MAN
NILSSON KARL E 26 MADESJÖ H 1911 BOSTON
Find his naturalization papers and you will find his date and port of departure; date, ship, and port of entry, specific place of birth, etc. Arrivals in 1911 would be found in a NARA facility where he settled. (It is usually very important to give places he lived. The U.S. is HUGE!)
If he traveled to Canada and then entered through the Canadian border to the U.S., then check the very informative St. Albans records.
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/fall_2000_us_canada_immigration_records_1.html
Judy
Hi Elizabeth
Refering to the good answer Judy has given to you about
Karl Nilsson 26 year from Stockholm I will give you this:
Karl Johan Nilsson born 1885-07-05 in Grava Värmlands Co
He was a tram conductor in Stockholm and left for America
April 21 1911 from Stockholm.
But on the birth date you have given is found in EMI-base
Karl Johan Emil Nilsson born 1884-03-03 in Ingatorp parish
Jönköpings Co and who left a place called Hustomta in
Ingatorp parish March 23 1910.
He left Göteborg harbour March 30 1910 and had destination
Minneapolis. (Sourcecode 91:369:91870)
with best regards
Bo Björklund
The information Judy has given to you from the census I will complete
with information taken from the church books.
The family moved 1890 to S:t Olai parish in the town Norrköping from
Hedvig parish in the same town. They have lived a house no 1 in
quarter called Wattnet and the father were Lars Johan Nilsson.
Here is the records:
Lars Johan Nilsson born 1849-02-03 in Gistad Parish E-county
Inga Lundquist born 1852-08-14 in Råda parish R-county
They married 1879-12-31
Children:
Carl Johan born 1884-03-03 in Norrköping S:t Olai.
Axel Olaus born 1886-10-05 in Norrköping Hedvig.
Gustaf Adolf born 1888-12-31 in Norrköping Hedvig.
Lars Johan died in July 26 1889
Inga came from Levene parish in R-county year 1875
To follow them after 1895 is hard and if they moved
to Stockholm we have no public records ready yet.
They are not founded in CD-Söder, CD-Klara or CD-Gamla stan
who is the ready part of Stockholm 1878-1930
With best regards
Bo Björklund
Thank you, Judy and Bo, for your information.
Our Karl Johan Nilsson was born in Norkopping and moved
to Stockholm when he was 15. Parents were Lars Johan
Nilsson and Inga Amelia Lundquist Nilsson.
I was under the impression he was 27 when he came to the
U.S. That would have made it 1911 or early 1912.
Also it was my understanding he went to Boston first and
then Illinois and Michigan.
Citizenship papers lists name as Carl John Nelson. Not
much other information there.
I do appreciate your efforts, Judy and Bo. It is wonderful!
Elizabeth Nelson
Hi Elizabeth,
From the 1890 Swedish Census for Östergötland county, from the fee-based Arkion site:
Home parish: S:t Olai
Residence: Qvadr. Blomman
County: Östergötland
SVARvolume: 000145 Card nr: 7
Page: 153 Row: 1
Persons in the household
Fam nr: 1
Widow Inga Nilsson born Lundquist, born 1852 in Rönö Ög. l.(Rönö, Östergötland län = county)
s. Karl Johan born 1884 in S:t Olai Ög. l.(Saint Olai, Östergötland län.)
s. Axel Olaus f. 1886 in Hedvig Ög. l. (Hedvig, Östergötland län)
s. Gustaf Adolf f. 1888 in Hedvig Ög. l. (Hedvig, Östergötland län)
All the above people were born in the kommun (municipality) of Norrköping. It is a large kommun so you are indeed fortunate that their birth parishes have been found. The records were kept in the parish and knowing one parish is enough to unlock all the parishes for you. There are records in the parish telling where someone went or came from.
http://home.swipnet.se/chamre/05ostergotl.html
The information you provided in the last post was very helpful. You should provide ALL the details you know when you ask for help so others have a better chance of helping you.
Judy
I am new at this! Thank you so much for your help and
information. It is great that you found the family. We
can go from there.
Have not been able to get the application for citizenship
from the Immigration Service. I think they are much too
busy with other more important matters at this time.
My brother has been working on this.
Love this site and am fascinated with all of your knowledge
of Sweden and American-Swedish descendants.
THANKS.
Elizabeth Nelson
Hi Elizabeth,
The first step for finding naturalization papers is to find the people in the microfilmed index. You can do that yourself in an hour or two (or less) at a NARA facility. (I suppose those indexes can be ordered from a Family History Center but I used NARA. Of course, you have to use the NARA which has records for the area where they are likely to have naturalized.)
That provides the essential information needed to get the certificate. You have to pay a fee for the copies. I filled out the order form provided at the NARA I used, and they said they would mail it (for an extra fee, I think) or I could pick it up in a week or two. (It has been a long time. The specifics are fuzzy in my mind.) I went to NARA a lot so I picked it up.
If you expect them to do it all for free, I suppose they just ignored your request. Government agencies aren't always good about informing you of procedures, unfortunately. You would think taxpayers pay their salary so they would be responsive to the public but that isn't generally the way it is.
There are many knowledgeable people on the Swedish boards and lists, and many are willing to share their knowledge. I wouldn't have gotten very far in my Swedish research without the guidance of those helpful people when I first started, and I still need their help from time to time.
Have fun!
Judy
More About Karl Johan Nilsson:
Burial: Unknown, White Chapel Cemetery, Troy, MI.
Immigration 1: March 19, 1919, Chicago, IL, INS Volume 108 v 26597.
Immigration 2: March 13, 1919, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.3429
Residence: March 13, 1919, 5426 Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, IL.3430
Children of Karl Johan Nilsson and Ella Roberta Bleakley are:
- +Sigrid Juanita Nelson, b. October 09, 1927, Berkley, MI3431, d. July 31, 2000, Lutheran Hospital, Fort Wayne, IN3432, 3433.