This is my blog about my genealogy and especially about
swedish and swedish -american genealogy especially my podcast Anna-Karins Genealogical Podcast http://annakarin.libsyn.com
This year's Genealogy Days 2022 where held in Skövde 20-21 August 2022 at Arena Skövde/.The genealogy days were organized by The Skövde Genealogy Society . The Genealogy days are the yearly conference of the Swedish Federation of Genealogical societies .It have been held since 1988 with an exception in 2020 due to Covid 19.In 2021 it was held digitally online.
Genealogical Societies, Genealogy vendors and genealogists from all over Sweden and neighboring countries met.to listen to lectures, meet and buy genealogy related products. among the international vendors represented where Ancestry.com,My Heritage,FamilyTreeDNA
Niklas Hertzman from Arkivdigital.com helped keen genealogists with the art of
find their ancestors in church records and other old documents. Arkivdigital is a company that digitizes and indexes swedish archival record in color.
Two happy ladies from the Ancestry..com Swedish team gave away bags of sweets
for Genealogists in and sold genealogy subscriptions and DNA tests.
Ted Rosvall spoke about Jean Baptiste Bernadotte (Karl XIV Johan) 1764-1844 and his descendants both legitimate and illigitimate . Among the Bernadotte descendants are members of today's royal families in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium and several former royal and princely houses in Greece and Germany as well as several noble and non-noble families across Europe and other parts of the world.
Mr. DNA. Peter Sjölund gave a well-attended lecture on Genealogy and DNA.
Peter Sjölund became famous throughout Sweden in 2020 when he used genetic genealogy
During the 16th century, both England and Sweden were ruled by the colorful royal houses Tudor and Vasa. Both families had seized power by force, both had colorful and ruthless and charismatic rulers such as Gustav I , Erik XIV , (John III and Charles IX in Sweden and Henry VIII and Elizabeth I in England. One of my distant relatives came to serve members of both.
British School 16th century _A young lady aged 21 Possibly Helena Snakenborg WikimediaCommons
Helena (Elin) Ulfsdotter Snakenborg was probably born around 1548-1549 in Fyllingarum manor in the province of Östergötland as the daughter of Gustaf Vasa's councilor Ulf Henriksson Snakenborg to Fyllingaryd in Östergötland and Agneta Knutsdotter.Lillie. Helena´s family was a branch of the old noble family Bååt (Boat) that sometimes used the name Snakenborg wich came from Helenas fathers paternal grandmothers side of the family. Since the Swedish nobility were just beginning using family names in the 16th century Helena would sign herself as Helena or Elin Ulfsdotter (daughter of Ulf.)
Tre Kronor The old royal castle in Stockholm (burned 1697) The Stockholm residence of the Swedish royal family and Helena Snakenborgs workplace as a maid of honor to princess Cecilia of Sweden. The castle in a painting from 1661 by Govert Dircksz Camphuysen. WikimediaCommons
Helena was one of the youngest of her parents six children. Due to her father's position as a member of the Privy Council of Sweden, she probably already came into contact as a child with first the elderly miserly king Gustaf I and later the young handsome ambitious but mentally unstable Erik XIV court. Helena was of the same age as Gustav I:s three youngest children Sofia, Anna and Karl (Charles IX), perhaps they were brought up together at the royal castle Tre Kronor in Stockholm.
Erik XIV had big plans for his future marriage. As early as 1559, he sent his younger brother Johan (John III) at the head of a delegation to England to propose to its new queen Elizabeth I. The delegation was well received but Elizabeth very civilly declined. Erik did not give up and contact between the courts continued. Princess Cecilia Erik and Johan's younger sister admired Elizabeth and began to correspond with her, expressing a desire to visit her in England.
Princess Cecilia Gustavsdotter Vasa of Sweden unknown artist: WikimediaCommons
In 1564 the political situation in Sweden had taken a dramatic turn. King Erik had thrown his brother Johns and Johns new bride into prison. Princess Cecilia naturally was upset by this and protested. She was anxious to leave Sweden and visit England with her new husband Markgrave Christopher of Baden-Rodemachern .
In the early autumn of september of 1564 the couple left Stockholm together with a large group of courtiers including the now 15-year-old Helena Snakenborg as one of her maids of honour. Due to the war with Denmark, the entourage had to travel over Finland, Livonia, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands. After a stormy crossing the they landed in England and on September 12th they made their magnificent entry into London.
Princess Cecilia was wearing a black velvet dress with a mantle of silver fabric. studded with pearls. and her maids of honour including Helena wore dresses in crimson and coats of the same fabric and colour. For Helena, the arrival to London must have been overwhelming. With about 100,000 inhabitants, London was one of Europe's largest cities more than 10 times larger than Stockholm. Elisabeth I's court was with its splendor one of the most sophisticated in Europe.
The Darnley Portrait Elizabeth I ar. 1575 National Portrait Gallery WikimediaCommons
Princess Cecilia and her entourage were initially well received by the Queen, who became the godmother of Cecilia´s eldest son Edward Fortunatus, born a few days after her arrival in London and named after the Queen's younger brother Edward VI. However Cecilia's wastefulness soon caused tensions in her relationship with the Elizabeth I. A life-changing event for Helena came when a prominent courtier William Parr first Marquis of Northampton 1513-1571 fall in love with her.
William Parr First Marquess of Northampton by Hans Holbein the Younger Royal Collection WikimediaCommons
William Parr was the brother of Catherine Parr 1512-1548 Henry VIII sixth queen and thus Elizabeth I's stepmother. He had a complicated private life. He was a newly widowed but his first wife Anne Bourchier, whom he divorced twenty years earlier, was still alive and it was considered that he could not remarry as long as she was alive. We do not know what Helena felt about her 35-year-old suitor. She must have been aware that a marriage with him would make her one of England's highest ranked ladies. She wrote to her worried mother in Sweden and emphasized his fine manner and high social position.
Princess Cecilia and her husband had by this time hastily left England to escape her large debts.Her debtors sized all her and her maid of honours clothes. The angry Cecilia woved revenge on England and Elizabeth !
Helena remained in England. Queen Elisabeth I , had become attached to the young girl and secured Helena a position at court by appointing her as one of her maids of honour. Life at the Elizabethan court,despite all the luxuries, was often stressful. Elisabeth I was a charismatic queen but also moody with outbursts of anger as she could also beat her favorites at court. Helena's experience of serving members of the fierce and suspicious Vasa dynasty certainly came in handy.
In 1568 in Sweden the political situation had changed once more . King Erik XIV had descended into mental illness and been deposed by his brother John III who seized the throne. Erik XIV would later die in prison in possibly killed by being given peasoup spiced with arsenic !
It was probably during this time that the first portrait considered to depict her was painted (see top of page). She wears a white petticoat with red flowers under a red petticoat. On her head she has a white floral beret adorned with a white and a red feather.
Helena and William Parr married in May 1571, after the death of his first wife, the Queen attended the wedding which took place the Queen's Closet in Whitehall Palace. Helena became a widow when her husband died after just four month of marriage. William Parr died with big debts which the queen had to pay.
After her husbands death Helena returned to the royal court as one of Elizabeth I s ladies in waiting As the dowager marchioness of Northampton, Helena was the highest ranking lady at court after Elizabeth I and the queens cousin lady Margret Douglas Helena returned as a widow to her service as a lady in waiting to the Queen and it was at the court that in the mid 1570s she met the man who became her second husband Sir Thomas Gorges 1536-1610.
Portrait of Sir Thomas Gorges (1536-1610) of Longford Castle in Wiltshire, a courtier and Groom of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I Wikimediacommons.
Thomas Gorges was one of Queen Elisabeth's chamberlains. Through his kinship with the powerful Howard family, he was related by both Queen Elisabeth's mother Anne Boleyn and her third stepmother Katherine Howard.
Despite his kinship to the queen Thomas Gorges was not considered to be of the same rank as Helena, since he did not yet have his own noble title. Elizabeth I who chose to live unmarried was extremely reluctant to allow her courtiers to marry. This was probably what made Helena and Thomas marry in secret in 1576. The queen was furious and banished Helena from the court and threw Thomas Gorges into the Tower of London!
However, the queen soon forgave the newlyweds and allowed them to return to court. Helena and Thomas Georges Marriage seems have been harmonious and resulted in eight children of whom six lived to adulthood. The time the couple did not spend at the royal court, they stayed at Longford Castle near Salisbury in the county of Wiltshire in southwest England. During their time, the property was expanded into a magnificent castle inspired by the Swedish Vasa castles
.The diplomatic relations between England and Sweden in the 1570-thies was a bit tense. The princess Cecilia had returned to Sweden and settled in the city of Arboga . She send privateers out the Baltic where they sized the cargo of English ships.The princess meant that she had the right to keep the cargo as compensation for the property she had lost to her debtors when she left England in 1566.
In 1582 Thomas Gorges lend an embassy to Sweden where he also met members of the Snakenborg family. As far as we know, Helena never returned to Sweden after her move to England. But she corresponded with her mother and siblings, one of her brothers was present at her first husband's funeral in 1571.
In 1580ties he Elizabeth I rewarded Helena and her husband with the Sheen property for their lifetime. Sheen was located near the Richmond Palace, the queen's main residence, which allowed the spouses to live with the children even when they were in court.
Helena remained Elizabeth's close confidant and, due to the Queen's faltering health often had to represent the queen on official occasions at the end of the 1590s. At the Queen's funeral in 1603, she walked closest to the coffin as the highest ranked female mourner present.
Helena Snakenborg, Marchioness of Northampton, 1603 Helena Snakenborg widow marquis of Northampton in that costume she bore at James I coronation 1603 artist Robert Peake the Elder WikimediaCommons
Helena and Thomas Gorges attended the coronation of the new King James I in 1603 at Westminster Abbey in London. Helena was portrayed by the artist Robert Peake the Elder in the magnificent red dress adorned with ermine she wore at the coronation.
After Thomas Gorge's death in 1610, her Helena increasingly withdrew from the center of power of which she had been a part since her arrival in England 45 years earlier. She returned to court a few times to assist in diplomatic negotiations with Sweden over a possible marriage between the princess Elizabeth and the Swedish prince Gustavus Adolphus son of Helenas childhood friend king Charles IX which was never completed due to the opposition of the princess mother queen Anne of Denmark.
Helena Snakenborg lady Gorges detail of grave monuments in Salisbury Cathedral horiginal photo: tudorqueen6.com
She had a varied life to look back on and a large family to worry about. According to a contemporary writer, she had 92 descendants at the time of her death! Helena died on 10 April 1934 at the age of 86 at Longford castle and was buried next to Thomas Gorges under a stately monument in Salisbury Chatedral (No bad career for a girl from Östergötland)!
Monument and effigies, in Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, of Helena Snakenborg (d.1635) and her second husband Sir Thomas Gorges (1536–1610). Erected after her death in 1635
This years Minnesota day was held as usual in the church in Ljuder in Lessebo municipality in honour of the writer Vilhelm Moberg and the emigrants from the Ljuder area to Minnesota and other parts of the world.
Among the guests who faithfully have returned the recent years were the former head of The Swedish Emigrant Institute' in Växjö former Professor Ulf Beijbom. and Monica Banaz from the University of Krakow in Poland.
A Swedish-American churchservice was held and the Swedish-American of the year the Swedish diplomat Jan Eliasson was also presented.
Angela Hoffman from the University of Uppsala spoke about "Swedish meeting with Indians" in Kansas. The day before, she spoke to the Association of Friends to the Swedish Emigrant Institute on the subject "Swedish-American churches Cookbooks"
When the Swedes emigrated to the United States and Canada, they often formed their own Swedish-speaking churches. The oldest were founded in the late 1840-thies and the beginning of the 1850-thies and the last in the 1920-thies The largest congregation was the lutheran Augustana synod . The most important of the others were the Evangelical Covenant church and ther were also Swedish baptist and Methodist congregations as well as the Evangelical Free church
During the 1970-thies and 1980-thies, Lennart Setterdahl was commissioned by the Swedish Emigrant Institute to microfilm much of the chrurchrecords . The microfilms are currently available at the Swedish Emigrant Institute in Växjö and at the Swenson Swedish Emigration Center at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois,
Last year, Arkivdigital began digitizing the Swedish-American church archives in several states to the delight of professsional and emigrant and family researchers. The digitization also includes material from some churches that have not previously been filmed. In 2016, material from Kansas was digitized, This year,work on digitizing materials from Minnesota and Nebraska has begun. ArkivDigital tells about the progress of their work at their blog
Warren Johnson and Sven Henning photographing Swedish-American church records in Omaha Nebraska photo Arkivdigital
Swan Nelson was buried on December 28nd at Oakwood Cemetery outside Chicago. The burial service was most likely performed by pastor Carl Granath of the swedish-speaking Zion Evangelical Lutheran church which Swan and his relatives attended. In its It is burial record he is listed as "shot December 25th 3 AM"
note about Swan Nelsons burial inthe burial records from Zion Evangelical Lutheran church in Chicago microfilm SAKA 192 Swedish Emigrant Institute, Växjö,Sweden.
The news of his death spread fast among the Swedish-Americans in Chicago and caused great anger . It increased the ethnic tensions between Swedish-Americans and Irish-Americans.The Chicago Daily News described the shooting as unjustified and the Swedish-American newspapers raged. The Swedish-American organisations quickly organised The Swedish National League to raise money for an investigation and legal counsel to make sure the two policemen were tried and punished. The leaders of the committee were contractor August G Myhrman, lawyer Harry Olssonand William Wennerholm. Support also came from the Swedish-American newspapers , including Svenska Tribunen
(from :Swedish-American Historical Quaterly 2014 jan no. 1page .41)
Quick to join in wasthe 25-year-old entrepreneurFred Lundin known for his "Juniper-Ade" he was elected chairman of the committee. The first mass meeting was held on January 7th and gathered 400 participants.More than 20 mass meetings were held between january and October 1894 and around 8,000 were gathered (about $ 200,000 in today's money value) .Several Swedish-American churches and clubs became involved in the matter. A private detective was hired to search for witnesses and a well known lawyer Luther Laflin Mills was retained.
The biggest event for collecting money was a big concert held on May 26 1894in the new Auditorium Theatre , featuring t 400 singers and musicians andan audience of around 4500 listeners.
The trial against Healy and Moran opened on January 7, 1895. The proceedingsoffered a lot of drama and was given extensive coverage by the Chicago newspapers. A juror was removed for perjury and indicted,during the trial there were charges of jury tampering and witnessess being influenced and allegations of a police cover-up. . The defense argued that there were no unlawful killing since Swan nelson had fled the policeand that anyone could have fired the bullet. In the end, Luther Laflin Mills adressed the jury and held a long speech in which he depicted Swan Nelson as a innocent young man brutally shot by two corrupt police officers and he concluded:
"Lying on the ground dying with his lefeblood flowing on that frost-coveredside-walk,Swan Nelson grasped" I treated them,they wanted more,I refused and the policemen shot me. I am dying,I have done no wrong.´Gentlemen of the jury,this was an awful crime;yours should be an awful verdict"
The jury sentenced the policemen to 14 years in prison for manslaughter . They were sent toThe Illinois State Penitentiary in Joliet Illinois.. The sentence was however not the end of the story.
The case was appealed and two more trials were held in the following years.. In the 1897 trial, the sentence was reduced to 4 years in prison. In 1899, the case was was again back in court, but it was decided not to hold another trial and Moran and Healy were returned to prison . However, according to The 1900 Federal Census they are not listed aong the prisoners at Illinois State Penitentiary.Perhaps they had been transferred to another prison or released .
(Illinois state Penitentiary Joliet,Illinois ()
The trial had consequences for all involved Josephine bjorkman died in 1901 Fred Lundin got contacts in politics served in the Illinois state senate and a term in the House of Representatives congress before becomming the power behind the corrupt Chicago mayor William Hale Thompson l Luther Laflin Mills had a succesfull Career as lawyer before his death in 1909 Harry Olson later became first chief judge of the Juvenile Court of Chicago.
Even for Swans family life had to go on. His brother John Nelson married his fiancé Maria (Mary) Benson in february1894 .they got two children Selma and Nels John Nelson became a Saloon keper the family settled in the Austin area of Chicago.John became a member of the of the Indipendent Order of Vikings and later of the Independent order of Svithiod. .He died in 1938. His only grandchild died unmarried in2007. His sister Elna Neson married Albert Stedman and died 1944 in San Fransisco,California.. Karna (Carrie) Nelson married John M Anderson they first lived in Illinois but later moved to Washington near Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Swans youngest sister Johanna (Hannah) Nelson 1874- married Oscar Frederick Johnson. they moved from Illinoisto Flint Rivernear Burlington, Iowa, All sisters left descendants. During the following years the area were Swan Nelson was murdered became the home for many Sicilian immigrants . The antagonism between Swedish-Americans and Irish-Americans deacresed with time and they came to direct their prejudices towards newer immigrants and minority groups as East -Europeans and Afro-Americans. More about the shooting of Swan Nelson can be read in här i iThe Swedish American Historical Quaterly 2014 jan no. 1
On Chistmas Eve 1893 Swan Nelson a young Swedish Emigrant closed his little tobacco store on Archer Ave on Chicagos south side at 4 pm and walked to his home close by near 32 Street .;
Swan was born as one of 7 surviving children in 1871 in the village of Magletorp in Trolle- Ljungby in the province of Skåne (Scania) in southern Sweden as the son of Nils Johnson 1820-1881 and Sissa Johnsdotter 1830-1891.
After the the death of their father, Nels two oldest sisters Elna and Karna emigrated to the USA in 1882. after their mothers death Sven and his older brother Jöns and their youngest sister Johanna emigrated in march 1892. Sven and Jöns settled in Chicago where their maternal aunt Elna(Ella) Benson and her two children lived..
Trolle-Ljungby church
In Chicago Jöns and Sven Nilsson quickly became John and Swan Nelson . Life apparently went well for the two brothers Swan quickly learned a bit of english and manged to accuire a little tobacco store. He also took part in the social life of the Swedish-Americans in the city. In the summer of 1893 he became one of the charter members of the lodge Angantyr of The Independent order of Vikings. In the summer and fall of 1893 Chicago also hosted The Worlds Columbian Exposition .with visitors from allover the USA and the world visiting Chicago.
The city was also plagued by crime and violence and political corruption and shortly before the Exposition closed Chicago mayor Carter Harrison was murdered .
"The White city" The Worlds comumbian Exibition in Chicago 1893
Swan had all reasons to be content with his life in Chicago and to look forward to a bright futute unfortunate his life was cut short all too soon. On Christmas evening Swan went to a small Christmas party held by his neigbours Otto and JosephineBjorkman . he and the bjorkman family and a few other friends celebrated Christmas Eve the Swedish way with some food and drink.
(Aproximate place where the shooting took place (the street numbers where changed in 1909)
About 2.30 AM early on Christmas morning Swan left the Bjorkmans home. Despite being early in the mornng he decided to go to the Northelfer´s saloon nearby. Outside the saloon he met two Irish-american policemen Michael J Healy and Thomas J Moran who had had some drinks in another saloon earlier in the evening.
They insisted that Swan should buy them some drinks in the saloon. The three men went inside where there where a few sleepy german-american customers and the bartender .The bartender gave the policemen cigars and Swan bought them each a drink. but when they insisted he should buy them more he refused.
They then beat him with a club. and then cleared the saloon.
Outside the Saloon the quarell continued. They arrested Swan Nelson and while Mooran went to call the police-wagon Healy held him. Swan then brooke lose and ran towards his home .The two policemen fired 5 shoots (in the air) they later said.
Swan Nelson was hit in the back. Mrs.Bjorkman heard the shot and opened the door. Mooran entered and said he had fired at a robber and demanded more whiskey !.Swan Nelson had managed to crawl to his house where mrs Bjorkman found him dying.
"Here is my watch,mrs Bjorkman" he said " I am shoot and will die !.
the two policemen returned.Healy treatened to shot mrs Bjorkman if she left the dying man , he also hit her in the face she later testified. Swan Nelson was dragged to the sidewalk where he was heard saying "I die,I die ,I have done no wrong,Have I no friends here? help-I am dying." The police-wagon arrived and took him to the hospital where he died later on Christmas day .
The Swedish digital provider of digitized Swedish church record Arkiv Digital announces free access to their records for the Weekend of 12-13 November. Linda Kvist has started a new podcast about Swedish genealogy in English it is called Cousin Linda The Minnesota Historical Society has opened a new website for showing digitized Swedish-American newspapers. Hundreds of Swedish-language newspapers were published in the United States from 1850 onward, catering to America's Swedish immigrant communities. Use this online portal to learn more about these newspapers, and to search over 300,000 digitized newspaper pages from 28 different Swedish American newspaper titles published across the United States between 1859 and 2007.
Founded in 1849, St. Ansgarius Episcopal Church was the first parish established for the growing community of Swedish immigrants in the city of Chicago. The church was formed jointly by the Swedish and Norwegian communities within the neighborhood of Swede Town (present-day River North). Gustaf Unonius (1810-1902), a Swedish pioneer and Episcopal priest, served as the church’s first pastor for 10 years.
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