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Debra
Junior member
USA
71 Posts |
 Posted - 08/10/2003 : 20:19:17
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I am getting desperate trying to find my Grandmother's family. I know she went by Ingeborg (Inga) Nelson here in America before marrying my grandfather John A. Anderson. Ingeborg was born on Sept 18, 1878 (maybe in Trodjeon) in Norway. She came to America (according to the US census) in 1897 and settled in Buffalo, North Dakota where she lived most of her life here. I have talked with family members and they don't seem to know anything about her other than what I have stated (I have a hard time believing they don't but that is what they say). I don't know how many sisters and brothers she had although I know there were a couple (I only have heard of sisters) and I am trying to find out more about them but so far finding very little other than who they were here and that they also went by Nelson before marrying? What do I do next? I have sent for Grandmother's marriage license, death certificate and looked at all the census we have here and I cannot find anything more about her. Because of the great people on this site translating my Grandfather's letter edged in black, I have traced Grandfather back a couple of generations in Sweden now and that has been exciting but I can't get anywhere with Grandmother and I don't know what to do next. I still have several letters out to family members that lived around Buffalo when Grandmother was still alive but they were very young--still hoping they remember some stories or something though. Thanks for any help you can come up with. I am about out of things to try. We are still looking through Mom's stuff hoping to find something but so far nothing about her mother and family.
Debra |
Edited by - Debra on 22/11/2003 05:45:33 |
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jwiborg
Norway Heritage Veteran
Norway
4961 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2003 : 21:15:55
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Hi Debra,
According to the Ellis Island manifest, Inga Nielsen (19y) from Norway, arrived on the ship "Hekla" on March 22nd, 1897. The ship has travelled from Christiansand (Nor) to Cristiania (Nor) to Copenhagen, Denmark, before crossing the Atlantic.
Unfortunately does it seem like the original manifest is missing, so I could't find out to whom she was going...
Here she is, leaving Kristiania on March 04th, 1897: click here
Destination is New York. It looks like she is travelling alone, or maybe together with Martin Alfred Kristoffersen ...? 
Place of residence says Kr.a, which is Kristiania (Oslo).
Jan |
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Debra
Junior member
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2003 : 21:43:24
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Thank you so much Jan. That is the most information as far as her coming over that I have gotten so far. Maybe I can research this a little more now on the Internet. Where do you find all your information? I have looked at the Ellis Island information and couldn't find anything, have looked on Norwegian sites other than this one but I have so little information. I want to find out about her family. In researching Grandfather's family, it has been so fascinating and I am sad I can't find more about her. It is sad when I can't even find out how many sisters and brothers she had and she only died in 1965!! No one in the family seems to know! Did they not talk about their family when they came over or at leaast the ones that didn't come along? My mother mentioned the two sisters Sarah and Mary and I have found the family (grandchildren) of Anna (Nelson) Halstad but they know very little about her either--nothing about her family. Any other ideas anyone has for me would be greatly appreciated. This has become a mystery for me now.
Debra
dmoseng@charter.net |
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Debra
Junior member
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2003 : 22:16:24
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Jan, in looking at the list of names, under occupation, what is 'pige' and is that a very small town where she was from? She told people here that she was born in Trodjeon, that maybe is close by? Is there any way of getting any church records to find out about her sisters and brothers and parents? This does sound like her on that list being the right age and name (close last name anyway). I just thought she came over with at least one sister but when researching the sister that married Ole Halstad it seems Anna (Halstad) must have came over before Grandmother did. Is it hard to look up a Anna (or Anne) Nilson and I believe she came over maybe in 1892 according to our census--also said she was born in Aug of 1869?). She must have been one of the older ones and Grandmother one of the younger children?
Debra |
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Borge
Veteran Moderator
Norway
1297 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2003 : 23:29:51
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| I really do think you should be looking for Trondhjem not Trondjeon. This could be you grandmother leaving Trondhjem in 1897: Ingeborg Fienstad . In the other tread about this topic: "Looking for grandmother's records" , it seams as the sources are pointing in a direction which makes me believe that your next step maybe should be to check microfilms of baptized in the town of Trondhjem. You need to establish some of that basic information now before getting much further without having to base the research on guesses. |
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jwiborg
Norway Heritage Veteran
Norway
4961 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2003 : 23:54:36
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Hi again,
pige means girl...
I managed to locate her manifest..., but there was no new info there.
It wrote: Inga Nielsen, 19, female, servant, destination New York, 1 piece of luggage...
It looks like she was travelling alone, at least the person in line above and below was headed to a diff. destination.
View manifest Click magnifying glass to enlarge manifest.
Here is Ingeborg Fenstads manifest: click here
It looks like she is going to a sister, but the name is hard to read..., take a look at the manifest.
Jan
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Debra
Junior member
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2003 : 04:01:27
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| I looked up all the above information in both your posts. The locations in the first Ingeborg sounds like it could be her but the name sounds more correct in the last one as e thought her name wasn't quite the way it was here in America as my sister remembers Mom mentioning something about that but wasn't sure what it was. How would I check the baptism records or parish records without knowing exactly the name? All I know is her birthday. I would love to find out her other family members also and if I knew how to check on hers I shoudl be able to maybe look at theirs? At least the two I know the names of (once I figure out what their name in Norway was). I am just excited I have gotten this far now. I love going and checking on what you put in the messages, it is exciting to see what could be family names coming to life. Thanks, Debra |
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Brining
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
868 Posts |
Posted - 11/10/2003 : 15:34:19
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Hi Debra, Have you ordered Anna Halstad's marriage and death certificate? That could be another source of information. Have you found any middle names for either Anna or Inga(Ingeborg)?
The best on line sources for searching Norwegian ancestors are The Digitalarkivet and The LDS FamilySearch
The LDS also has the films of church records in Norway that can be rented at one of their centers, click on the library tab at the site and you can get a list of the centers.
You should read John Føllesdal's articles on searching for Norwegian ancestors. Click on external links below and then General Genealogy, Articles & How To to get to his link. Naming practices in the 1800's were very different from now and you need to understand them before searching in Norway.
Hope you get more information that will help in your search
Carla |
Edited by - Brining on 12/10/2003 05:57:20 |
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Debra
Junior member
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 12/10/2003 : 17:25:42
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Carla, Thanks again. I think I will send for her (Anna's) marriage and death certificates. I got it confirmed from other information received that she did die on that date so it is hers. I just got so disappointed when I received Grandmother's death thing from the state and her marriage license as it had no new information on it, even got her obituary from the paper and nothing about siblings or parents on it, just her immediate family as far as living children and those who proceeded her in death as well as her husband who had died before her, that was it. Hopefully Anna's will have a little more information. I have learned some sad things about Anna. It is funny how you almost feel 'attached' to these people even though you never knew them. Because of the translation on this site for my grandfather's letter edged in black, I have gotten quite far in Sweden, several genertions back and quite a bit about them and it has been interesting. I only wish I could get more clues here about Grandmother's side. I am still hoping something pops up when I get more information about Anna's family as I have talked personally to her grandchildren and someone on another list (from Norman county) has sent me all the information about the family from the Halstad MN book--it tells all about when Ole and his first wife Anna and their daughter settled in what is now Halstad in 1871. Very interesting reading. Our Anna is just sort of thrown in, no dates when the first Annas died or when he married our Anna--she just appears--and has kids.
I have a friend who is a Mormom and I am hoping she will help me with this. I don't see her very often but knows she works at the family center once or so a month and I need to talk with her. I have lots of things I can do but have been going in way too many directions so far with it. I wanted to just follow Grandmother's family at first, then got that lead with Grandfather and it has gone well, then got on the Halstad's to try to find more about Grandmother, fun, but very time consuming. I can't believe how the people are willing to help on these sites too, very nice, thank you. Debra |
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Debra
Junior member
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 13/10/2003 : 04:36:09
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I just sent for the marriage license and death certificate of Anna, hope there is some kind of information on them as far as HER sisters or siblings and parents. I have also been checking on that one site you told me about (I had been on there before and have found some names but not the ones that are very important now on Grandmother's side). I still am not finding her side at all as far as the Sarah and Mary but those are such common names and I do not know when they came over from Norway for sure or when their birthdays are. I do not know if they went by Nilsen or Nelson either, think they went by Nelson once they got here though as that is what Anna had on her marriage license. I am still searching through hundreds of names on the manifests also.
Debra |
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Debra
Junior member
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 30/10/2003 : 02:09:12
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It's me again. I am still searching but hadn't gotten any new information until today. I am excited as this is the first I have gotten any names from over in Norway. I received Anna Halstad's death certificate today and it actually has her parent's names on it. I don't know if anyone can help me yet but I am excited to put them down to see--Anna's father's name (Norway-and this would also be y grandmother Inga's father too!) was Nels Lesswig and her mtoher's name was Karen Jonasdatter. I don't know if this will help someone loook up anything in Norway--the daughters I know of are my grandmother Ingeborg, Anna, Sarah and Mary. I am not sure how many more there were and who came over to America and when. I would like to find anything at all out about this family as I haven't been able to get over to Norway with this family yet. Thanks for any information you can help with. I am going to start looking more now too. I am hoping this will be the break I needed to get going on Grandmother's side.
Thanks for the help of any kind--including telling me where to look next.
Debra |
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Debra
Junior member
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 30/10/2003 : 02:49:45
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I have been searching every type of record I know of and so far I cannot even find the last name of Lesswig? Does anyone on here even know if this could be a correct last name in Norway? I have found several Karen Jonasdatters but none with the correct husband? I tried The Digitalarkivet and I click on English and I can read that but then when I go to search it all goes back to Norwegian, what am I doing wrong? Is there a way to get it to stay in English so I can read what it is saying? Thanks for any help.
Debra |
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Brining
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
868 Posts |
Posted - 30/10/2003 : 06:36:33
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Hi Debra How exciting for you.  The names you got are probably Americanized but I have found one potential prospect in the 1875 Census The farm name doesn't match but names changed if they moved to another farm. Nils Pedersen with wife Kari (Karen?) Jonasdatter. Ane the correct age for Anna Halsted and Marit (Mary?) and Sigrid (Sarah?).
I don't know of any way to get the headings in English but there is a link to a Norwegian dictionary under links below. You might want to print out a page and then write in the English translation for reference.
I hope this is the one but if not you are getting the information you need and it will all come together someday.
Also remember when searching spellings change so it is better to search using starts with or contains.
Carla |
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thelebrity
Senior member
Norway
234 Posts |
Posted - 30/10/2003 : 14:48:30
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| According to the ship manifest Ingeborg F(i)enstad was going to her sister at West Superior, Wisconsin. It seems that many immigrants from the Trøndelag area settled there. Superior is situated in Douglas county, Wisconsin. You might find something at the Douglas pages at Rootsweb: http://resources.rootsweb.com/USA/WI/Douglas/ |
Per Helge Seglsten |
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Debra
Junior member
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 30/10/2003 : 15:45:40
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I am getting excited about finding something anyway! I looked up that census and was quite excited as it made sense to me about the names etc. I was wondering though bout the age of GGrandmother, Kari or Karen as she would have been 47 years old when she had Grandmother! She was getting up there in age if that is her. I didn't know of any sons but there could have been some for all I know, just never heard Mom talk of any. I am checking in to more about that other Ingeborg too that went to Douglas County Wisconsin as I heard lately that Sarah lived up by Canada. Another relative remembers her coming to visit and she lived up by the Canadian border. That is all I know about her, don't know her married name or even if she went by Nelson like Grandmother and Anna did before marrying. Just so many questions! It is fun though. I still can't believe we know so little about our Grandmother and she was alive until 1965. My Aunt who took care of her the last years of her life never even knew her parents names to put on her death certificate (I had sent for hers too). I was pleasantly surprised to see Anna's on hers when I got it.
Debra |
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Debra
Junior member
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 31/10/2003 : 04:52:48
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I have spent most of today searching for names. Why do my family seem to be hiding? I either don't know where to look or know HOW to look. I tried looking up all the names that were on the census mentioned above and found several of each of those names but none matched with the names on that census so I could see if there was more information and get something to confirm. I have been reading on researching but somehow I don't seem to find things like you all do. I get so excited when I find something to match or that seems about right with the information I have and yet I find it so seldom.
One question about the census, why would you think that Nils Pedersen would be Nels Lesswig? Do you think that someone here 'Americanized' it even though he never came to America? The other names make sense as they came to America. I am still learning about the names. I really think that family could be my family but I still have some questions of course. It took me a while before I believed the family in Sweden that people found for me was mine too. Now it is making more sense the further I go. Anyway, I have been searching both Ancestry.com and LDS all day for these names and have found several of them but not the ones from this family I don't think. Any help would be appreciated, both in telling me what to do next to find out for sure if this is my family and how to prove it or what else I should be looking for and at. Thank you. I am learning but am a slow learner I guess. Debra |
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Nils Pedersen family, Sesseng farm in Selbu
