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LeeViolet
Starting member
USA
5 Posts |
 Posted - 05/05/2010 : 16:08:55
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I'm searching for the passenger list of the "Thingvalla", which I'm hoping will include my great-great-grandfather, Fred Nelson (his last name could have been spelled a variety of ways).
His naturalization papers include the following (all as spelled on the papers):
Name: Fred Nelson
b. July 1, 1868, Ystad, Sweden
Occupation: Shoemaker
Emigrated from: Malmo, Sweden, Aug 2, 1888
Ship: Tingwalla
On this website I was able to track down the "Thingvalla", which I'm assuming is the same ship. Especially since it departed from Malmo on August 2, 1888. However, this ship collided with the Geiser.
I was able to find the passenger list for the Geiser, but not the Thingvalla. Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance.
~ Lee |
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Lislcat
Advanced member
USA
690 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2010 : 16:49:13
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Hi Lee,
Did Fred Nelson have a middle name and did he emigrate with any other family members?
I'm going through the passenger list and there are a lot of Nilsen's. :-)
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Lislcat |
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Lislcat
Advanced member
USA
690 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2010 : 17:12:53
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Lee,
I read through all the passenger's names on the ship list for the Thingvalla, arriving in NY on August 17, 1888 on Ancestry. There are 13 pages of names and there are two pages that are mostly unreadable. The passenger's on those pages are listed as being from Norway, but that doesn't mean he's not on those pages. On Norway Heritage, the ship is listed as arriving in NY on August 16, 1888. I also was searching for those with the occupation of shoemaker, but that didn't help.
The only person that comes close is a Georg Nilson, from Norway, age 20 and whose occupation is listed as "worker". |
Lislcat |
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LeeViolet
Starting member
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2010 : 18:19:43
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Thanks for looking! Fred did not have a middle name that we could find - not his census records, not on his death certificate.
His wife Amanda supposedly came over at a later date. How much later I can't say. Could have been months or years, but had to have been before 1891 because their first child was born here in the U.S.
(Thanks again)
~ Lee |
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Lislcat
Advanced member
USA
690 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2010 : 20:43:31
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Was his wife Amanda Ostrom?
I found a marriage listed for them with the LDS.
08 Oct 1890, Saint Paul, Ramsey, MN |
Lislcat |
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LeeViolet
Starting member
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2010 : 21:06:01
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That's her/them!
I think I have exhausted all the records of them available via the U.S. (like census records, death records, naturalization records, etc.).
The only lead I couldn't get a handle on was their 1920 Federal Census (which I found via Ancestry.com). You can see that someone tried to write in a little bit more than just "Sweden" as their place of birth, then crossed it out. But other than that, I can find no other records of them in the U.S. that tell us where they came from in Sweden. |
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jwiborg
Norway Heritage Veteran
Norway
4961 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2010 : 21:18:32
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Census-1900 for St. Paul city, Ramsey, Minnesota:
Fred Nilson, born 1868, Sweden, Immigration Year: 1884, Married 1890
Amanda Nilson, born Mar 1868, Sweden, Immigration Year: 1887, Married 1890, Mother of 4 children.
Lellian F Nilson, born May 1891, Minnesota
Esther R Nilson, born Jan 1893, Minnesota
Gustaf P Nilson, born Aug 1894, Minnesota
Ruben Nilson, born Nov 1898, Minnesota
Jan Peter |
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jwiborg
Norway Heritage Veteran
Norway
4961 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2010 : 22:05:28
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A possibility for one "Johan Fred Nilson", who is recorded as arrived New York on August 17th, 1888, sailing on the SS Thingvalla.
Birthyear is listed as 1887 though, but it could be a transcription error. The original document should be viewed.
Jan Peter |
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Lislcat
Advanced member
USA
690 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2010 : 05:25:16
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Yes, I saw that one too, but they have him listed as 11/12, which would mean he was an infant. Could they have been that wrong? I think the answer is finding his birth/baptismal record to see what his real name is. Fred Nelson just sounds very American to me. Nothing wrong with that, but I feel the Fred is either a middle name or a shortened version of something else.
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Lislcat |
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Hopkins
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3351 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2010 : 14:35:01
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The voyage of the SS Thingvalla is recorded on this website as leaving from Kristiania/Oslo on 2 Aug 1888. That voyage was where the SS Thingvalla and its sister ship, the SS Geiser, collided with the subsequent loss of life to a number of passengers on the Geiser (they were returning to Scandinavia). The Thingvalla, although heavily damaged, managed to make port in Halifax, Canada. (See the various articles about that disaster on this website.)
Perhaps Fred Nelson sailed on another ship of the Thingvalla shipping line or he may have confused the year when he completed later paperwork.
The Swedish Emibas CD should be consulted. Emibas was made from registrations in the Swedish parish to go to a foreign country. It is about 75% complete. There are persons on the Sweden message board of RootsWeb and Ancestry that are often willing to do limited lookups.
The list of persons boarding the SS Thingvalla on 2 Aug 1888 in Kristiania/Oslo does not include a Swedish born "Fred Nelson"(or any similar spelling variation) of the appropriate estimated age. |
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LeeViolet
Starting member
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2010 : 16:16:57
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Thanks for your suggestion on Embias! I will most certainly look into that.
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Lislcat
Advanced member
USA
690 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2010 : 17:13:41
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Lee,
Just a quick question for you. Did you know about the Thingvalla and Geiser collision, before you started your genealogy research? If that had happened in my family, I would of heard about that story from my grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and so on. If you didn't know about it, then I think there is a better chance that he just gave the wrong date for his arrival. Which would mean, that you should probably search from 1880 - 1890 for his arrival to the U.S. Especially, since the 1900 U.S. Census, lists him as arriving in 1884.
When searching for his name, you might want to use the search perimeter "contains", when searching for his first name and use Fred. That way, you would get Alfred, Fredrik, Fred, and possibly even a different first name, if he used Fred as the middle name. For his last name, if combining with the previous search technique, you might want to use "Starts with" and use N. That way, you will get Nilsen, Nilson, Nielsen, Nielson, Nelson, etc... Just an idea that might help with your search.
Good luck! |
Lislcat |
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LeeViolet
Starting member
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2010 : 17:26:34
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My father said the exact same thing. There is no family story about him being on a ship that was involved in a wreck.
Still, I was hoping to view the manifest and confirm or eliminate the Thingvalla as a possibility since it's listed on his naturalization papers.
From here, I'll follow the recommendations from you and other participants in this thread and see if I can't find him elsewhere.
Thanks again! |
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Hopkins
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3351 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2010 : 22:47:29
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You could see the passenger manifest of that arrival of the Thingvalla on microfilm through either the US National Archives or the LDS Family History Library system. From a response above it also appears that the manifest is online if you have a subscription to Ancestry.com.
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Lislcat
Advanced member
USA
690 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2010 : 23:52:53
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Most libraries have a subscription to Ancestry, so you might want to check your local library to see the ship's passenger list or go through the LDS Family History Library, as Hopkins suggested.
Check out the passenger list for yourself and if you don't see any name that looks like his, then I would widen your search from 1880 - 1890.
You'll find him. It sometimes just takes time. |
Lislcat |
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Thingvalla Passenger List (seeking Fred Nelson)
