My known family ancestors has grown nicely and I feel confident in the accuracy of my information. At the moment my family tree has 856 individuals listed, with the majority of them from Finland.
How big a majority of the individuals in my family tree are from Finland? I would estimate it at easily over 90%. So far I have not discovered anyone (on my side of the family) before the 20th century that was not born in Finland.
I am not adding ancestors to my family tree as quickly as I was at first. I have altered my course a bit, and am discovering and adding more information about some of my individuals on my family tree.
I do wish my wife's side of the family was easier to trace. She is from the Philippines, and her town was burned by the Japanese in World War II, destroying all records.
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Friday, December 23, 2016
14 Children of Matts BJÖRKBACKA
While browsing HiskiProject this morning, I came across this information on my 5th great grandparent's children.
Right now is not a good time for me to start adding all these newfound relatives to my Legacy Family Tree, after all it is the day before Christmas Eve and there are things to do around the house.
The satisfying part of adding all these individuals to my family tree is recording their names, births, christening dates, and the village and farm they were born on. At that point of documenting what I can on their lives I have hopes that they all lived a long life, married, and had children.
Yet, I have learned not to get my hopes up, after all, in this period of Finnish history many of my ancestors had children that died in infancy.
I do see the 1732 births of children Mattz and Brita that were only four months apart. Hopefully I can find the church records online and clear that up.
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| 14 Children of Matts Mattsson BJÖRKBACKA |
The satisfying part of adding all these individuals to my family tree is recording their names, births, christening dates, and the village and farm they were born on. At that point of documenting what I can on their lives I have hopes that they all lived a long life, married, and had children.
Yet, I have learned not to get my hopes up, after all, in this period of Finnish history many of my ancestors had children that died in infancy.
I do see the 1732 births of children Mattz and Brita that were only four months apart. Hopefully I can find the church records online and clear that up.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Buried Same Day
Matts Carlsson Modig 1747-1789 and Anna Persdotter 1749-1789 were my 4th great grandparents on my father's side of the family. They lived in Kälviä, Finland, and Matts was a soldier.
15 January of 1789, Anna died of magref (stomach complaint), and Matts died four days later, also of magref (stomach complaint). Matts and Anna were both buried the same day, 25 Jan 1789.
Matts and Anna were married almost 19 years, and had 9 children together, plus Matts had a daughter with his first wife Maria Samuelsdotter. Maria died in 1769.
Four of Matts and Anna's children died in infancy, two lived what could be considered a normal lifespan, and the other children I have been unable to find information on their deaths.
Their 5th child, Magdlena, was my 3rd great grandmother.
15 January of 1789, Anna died of magref (stomach complaint), and Matts died four days later, also of magref (stomach complaint). Matts and Anna were both buried the same day, 25 Jan 1789.
Matts and Anna were married almost 19 years, and had 9 children together, plus Matts had a daughter with his first wife Maria Samuelsdotter. Maria died in 1769.
Four of Matts and Anna's children died in infancy, two lived what could be considered a normal lifespan, and the other children I have been unable to find information on their deaths.
Their 5th child, Magdlena, was my 3rd great grandmother.
Monday, December 12, 2016
A Sailor In The Family
Jacobus Mathiasson Hummelholm (1786-1825) was my 1st cousin five times removed, and his occupations in Pedersöre, Finland were both carpenter and sailor.
I suppose there is nothing really unusual about either occupation. Still, I was quite pleased to discover I have a relative from the past that was not a farmer. There is nothing wrong with being a farmer, and I am proud to come from a long line of farmers, but it was nice to finally discover a different occupation in my family history.
From what I am able to learn, Jacobus was not a sailor in the navy, but a regular sailor.
Jacobus was born in Esse, Finland, and moved to Pedersöre, Finland, where he married in 1810 to Susanna Mattsdotter Wästersund. Jacobus died in 1825 of bröstsjuka, which was usually pneumonia.
Jacobus and his wife Susanna had six children in their 15 years of marriage. Apparently Susanna remarried after the death of Jacobus. That husband was also a sailor.
Jakob (or Jacob) is the Swedish version of Jacobus, and I suspect that is the name he went by. Jacobus is the Latin version of Jakob, and some clergymen entered births in the church books using the names in Latin. Jaakko is the Finnish version of the name, but my ancestors were from the Swedish speaking part of Finland, so it is more likely he would have used the name Jakob or Jacob.
Although Hummelholm is the farm name he was born on, he was later listed as Hummel, and beginning with the birth of his daughter Caisa Greta in 1812, I find his surname listed as Westerlundin for the births of his other children.
I suppose there is nothing really unusual about either occupation. Still, I was quite pleased to discover I have a relative from the past that was not a farmer. There is nothing wrong with being a farmer, and I am proud to come from a long line of farmers, but it was nice to finally discover a different occupation in my family history.
From what I am able to learn, Jacobus was not a sailor in the navy, but a regular sailor.
Jacobus was born in Esse, Finland, and moved to Pedersöre, Finland, where he married in 1810 to Susanna Mattsdotter Wästersund. Jacobus died in 1825 of bröstsjuka, which was usually pneumonia.
Jacobus and his wife Susanna had six children in their 15 years of marriage. Apparently Susanna remarried after the death of Jacobus. That husband was also a sailor.
Jakob (or Jacob) is the Swedish version of Jacobus, and I suspect that is the name he went by. Jacobus is the Latin version of Jakob, and some clergymen entered births in the church books using the names in Latin. Jaakko is the Finnish version of the name, but my ancestors were from the Swedish speaking part of Finland, so it is more likely he would have used the name Jakob or Jacob.
Although Hummelholm is the farm name he was born on, he was later listed as Hummel, and beginning with the birth of his daughter Caisa Greta in 1812, I find his surname listed as Westerlundin for the births of his other children.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Shared Origins With My Wife
My wife is from the Philippines, and we have no idea when her ancestors arrived there. My grandparents were all born in Finland, and we have no idea when my ancestors arrived there.
However, through DNA testing my wife and I do now have some idea of our ancestral origins from tens of thousands of years ago on their journeys from the origin of mankind in Africa.
If mankind originated in Africa, then at sometime many many years ago, my wife's and my ancestors must have been parts of the same "group" of people, people with similar appearances, language, lifestyle, etc. At some point in time my ancestors headed off to what we now call Finland, and my wife's ancestors took a different direction, ending up in the Philippines.
Through our DNA testing and my internet research, I was able to discover that between 54,400 and 58,600 years ago, my wife's ancestors and my ancestors were part of the mtDNA Haplogroup R, which originated in Southwestern Asia.
I have no idea how many people were in the mtDNA Haplogroup R at that time, but it was fun to look this up, and then to wonder if our ancestors knew each other, or even if they were related.
However, through DNA testing my wife and I do now have some idea of our ancestral origins from tens of thousands of years ago on their journeys from the origin of mankind in Africa.
If mankind originated in Africa, then at sometime many many years ago, my wife's and my ancestors must have been parts of the same "group" of people, people with similar appearances, language, lifestyle, etc. At some point in time my ancestors headed off to what we now call Finland, and my wife's ancestors took a different direction, ending up in the Philippines.
Through our DNA testing and my internet research, I was able to discover that between 54,400 and 58,600 years ago, my wife's ancestors and my ancestors were part of the mtDNA Haplogroup R, which originated in Southwestern Asia.
I have no idea how many people were in the mtDNA Haplogroup R at that time, but it was fun to look this up, and then to wonder if our ancestors knew each other, or even if they were related.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Simon Johansson Wertanen
Simon Johansson Wertanen 1687-1778 is my 6th great grandfather on my father's mother's side. He was born in Evijärvi, Finland, and died in Evijärvi, Finland at the age of 91.
When he was 9 years old, the Great Famine began in Finland. During this famine one out of three Finlanders died.
When Simon was 26, the Reign of Terror began when Russia invaded Finland, and this continued until he was 34 years of age.
I do not know the marriage date of Simon and my 6th great grandmother Susanna Henricsdotter (1705-1788), nor do I know the name of the farm she was born on. I do know that they had at least one child, my 5th great grandmother Maria Simmonsdotter Wertanen (1747-1795).
Hopefully I will discover siblings of my 5th great grandmother Maria, but I am pleased with tonight's discoveries.
How did I discover this info on my 6th great-grandparents? I searched through online church records for Evijärvi, Finland in hopes of finding the farm my 5th Great Grandmother Maria was born on, and once I finally found that, I also found info on her parents.
When he was 9 years old, the Great Famine began in Finland. During this famine one out of three Finlanders died.
When Simon was 26, the Reign of Terror began when Russia invaded Finland, and this continued until he was 34 years of age.
I do not know the marriage date of Simon and my 6th great grandmother Susanna Henricsdotter (1705-1788), nor do I know the name of the farm she was born on. I do know that they had at least one child, my 5th great grandmother Maria Simmonsdotter Wertanen (1747-1795).
Hopefully I will discover siblings of my 5th great grandmother Maria, but I am pleased with tonight's discoveries.
How did I discover this info on my 6th great-grandparents? I searched through online church records for Evijärvi, Finland in hopes of finding the farm my 5th Great Grandmother Maria was born on, and once I finally found that, I also found info on her parents.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Anders Mattsson Ahlskog
Anders Mattsson Ahlskog 1813-1847 (Alaveteli - Nedervetil, Finland) is my grandfather's grandfather, on my mother's side.
I have tried to give special attention to him because of his short life span, gathering as much information on him as possible. To tell the truth, it is pretty hard to find anything beyond his name, birth, christening, marriage, children's births, his death, and burial dates, residence, and occupation (or social status). I was able to gather some of the same type of information on his parent's, spouse, and children.
Quite a while ago I decided that I had all the information on Anders that I could possibly find. Today I decided to have another look at what was available on him using HisKi Project. Hmm, I seemed to have missed a daughter, so I added her to my family records. I may have been careless and missed her when I looked quite a while ago, or perhaps HisKi Project had discovered and added this info after I researched the first time.
Just for curiosity, I searched beyond Anders death, and discovered something sad. My 2nd great grandmother Maria was pregnant when Anders died, though she may not been far enough in her pregnancy to be certain.
This child, also named Anders Mattsson, and their only son, died at less then two moths of age, the cause of death was not recorded.
Double checking my research was a good idea, and it did allow me to discover two family members that I was unaware of.
I have tried to give special attention to him because of his short life span, gathering as much information on him as possible. To tell the truth, it is pretty hard to find anything beyond his name, birth, christening, marriage, children's births, his death, and burial dates, residence, and occupation (or social status). I was able to gather some of the same type of information on his parent's, spouse, and children.
Quite a while ago I decided that I had all the information on Anders that I could possibly find. Today I decided to have another look at what was available on him using HisKi Project. Hmm, I seemed to have missed a daughter, so I added her to my family records. I may have been careless and missed her when I looked quite a while ago, or perhaps HisKi Project had discovered and added this info after I researched the first time.
Just for curiosity, I searched beyond Anders death, and discovered something sad. My 2nd great grandmother Maria was pregnant when Anders died, though she may not been far enough in her pregnancy to be certain.
This child, also named Anders Mattsson, and their only son, died at less then two moths of age, the cause of death was not recorded.
Double checking my research was a good idea, and it did allow me to discover two family members that I was unaware of.
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Seven Weddings In One Day
14 Oct 1804 was a busy day for weddings in Evijärvi, Finland, seven weddings took place that day! Here is a screenshot from HisKi Project showing the weddings on that date.
My 3rd great grandparents Johan Abrahamsson Särkijärvi and Lisa Eriksdotter Pesonen are third in this list.
Johan Abrahamsson Särkijärvi died in 1817 at the age of 37, and Lisa Eriksdotter Pesonen died at the age of 75 in 1852. Johan and Lisa had 6 children, 5 daughters and one son. Their 3rd daughter, Maria, was my 2nd great grandmother.
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| The Day My 3rd Great Grandparents Married |
My 3rd great grandparents Johan Abrahamsson Särkijärvi and Lisa Eriksdotter Pesonen are third in this list.
Johan Abrahamsson Särkijärvi died in 1817 at the age of 37, and Lisa Eriksdotter Pesonen died at the age of 75 in 1852. Johan and Lisa had 6 children, 5 daughters and one son. Their 3rd daughter, Maria, was my 2nd great grandmother.
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Ancient Ancestors
Where did my ancestors come from before they lived in Finland?
I know my grandparents were all born in Finland, and all their known ancestors that I know about were also born in Finland. I will mention that, at the moment, I have 751 individuals in my family tree, and I concentrate on my grandparent's blood ancestors, with just a few individuals that are related only by marriage (such as a great great uncle's wife, or perhaps a second spouse of a widowed ancestor). All the individuals from my grandparent's time and before that I have birth info on were born in Finland, and I do have info on my ancestors that go back centuries, some as far as the 1400s.
Yet, my ancestor had to have come from somewhere before they settled in Finland.
Just for curiosity, I did the Family Finder and Y-DNA tests at Family Tree DNA. The results were interesting, but I wanted more info on my ancestral origins, and uploaded my results to GEDmatch. Playing with my info and the charting available at GEDmatch is quite interesting. This is my favorite so far of all the bits of info I have discovered.
My big surprise was the 28.2% Natufian in my ancient ancestry! What's this? It definitely wasn't any group of people I had ever heard of, and I was pleased to discover something unexpected in my DNA.
Yes, I looked it up on Google, and here are a couple things that other websites attribute to my ancient ancestors, the Natufians.
Natufians were the first group of people to change from a nomadic lifestyle to a life of settling down and staying in one place.
Natufians founded the Biblical city of Jericho. They originally traveled to this area occasionally because of the Ein es-Sultan spring, where they would stay at times. Eventually they made this a permanent settlement for them. Jericho was founded about 8,000 BC.
I know my grandparents were all born in Finland, and all their known ancestors that I know about were also born in Finland. I will mention that, at the moment, I have 751 individuals in my family tree, and I concentrate on my grandparent's blood ancestors, with just a few individuals that are related only by marriage (such as a great great uncle's wife, or perhaps a second spouse of a widowed ancestor). All the individuals from my grandparent's time and before that I have birth info on were born in Finland, and I do have info on my ancestors that go back centuries, some as far as the 1400s.
Yet, my ancestor had to have come from somewhere before they settled in Finland.
Just for curiosity, I did the Family Finder and Y-DNA tests at Family Tree DNA. The results were interesting, but I wanted more info on my ancestral origins, and uploaded my results to GEDmatch. Playing with my info and the charting available at GEDmatch is quite interesting. This is my favorite so far of all the bits of info I have discovered.
 | ||||
| Ancient Ancestors |
Yes, I looked it up on Google, and here are a couple things that other websites attribute to my ancient ancestors, the Natufians.
Natufians were the first group of people to change from a nomadic lifestyle to a life of settling down and staying in one place.
Natufians founded the Biblical city of Jericho. They originally traveled to this area occasionally because of the Ein es-Sultan spring, where they would stay at times. Eventually they made this a permanent settlement for them. Jericho was founded about 8,000 BC.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
1746 Twins at Söder Ena Farm, Finland
I had a nice find today in my family history. My 5th great-grandmother Anna Andersdotter Söder Ena (1746-1823) had a twin brother named Anders!
Anna and Anders Söder Ena are not the first twins I have discovered among my ancestors, but this is the first twins of my Finnish ancestors to live a long life. Anna lived 76 years, and her brother Anders Andersson Söder Ena (1746-1828) lived 81 years!
I was afraid that Anders had a short life and no children, but he didn't! He married and Anders and his wife Anna Davidsdotter (born 1754) had nine children.
It looks like I will be working on twin brother Anders' family as the current part of my family history, gathering and documenting his descendants. It would be nice if I could hope to search for information newer than 1860 on HisKi Project, but that's as far as that website goes for church records from Evijärvi, where they probably spent their whole lives.
Anna and Anders Söder Ena are not the first twins I have discovered among my ancestors, but this is the first twins of my Finnish ancestors to live a long life. Anna lived 76 years, and her brother Anders Andersson Söder Ena (1746-1828) lived 81 years!
I was afraid that Anders had a short life and no children, but he didn't! He married and Anders and his wife Anna Davidsdotter (born 1754) had nine children.
It looks like I will be working on twin brother Anders' family as the current part of my family history, gathering and documenting his descendants. It would be nice if I could hope to search for information newer than 1860 on HisKi Project, but that's as far as that website goes for church records from Evijärvi, where they probably spent their whole lives.
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Margeta Eriksdotter Slåtte born 1751
My 3rd great great aunt Margeta Eriksdotter Slåtte was born 16 Jan 1751 in Kronoby, Finland. She married Hans Olofsson Rudnäs on 23 Oct 1772 in Kronoby, Finland. It appears they had 11 children from 1776 to 1794, also in Kronoby, Finland, at Rudnäs farm, though I haven't gotten to the stage of verifying those births.
Now, it seems like with all that information on Margeta and Hans, I should be able to discover when they died. No luck yet on that, though. Last night and this morning I spent hours online checking churchbooks and HisKi Project, and not finding when these two died, but at least I know their last child was probably born 17 Feb 1794, so at least I have that to work off of.
There is a Greta Eriksdotter that died in 1832 with a residence of Rudnäs farm, but the age at death is off by a few years. I found that on HisKi Project.
Still, that might be her....
I think it is time to move on to a different ancestor and come back to Margeta and her husband some other day.
Now, it seems like with all that information on Margeta and Hans, I should be able to discover when they died. No luck yet on that, though. Last night and this morning I spent hours online checking churchbooks and HisKi Project, and not finding when these two died, but at least I know their last child was probably born 17 Feb 1794, so at least I have that to work off of.
There is a Greta Eriksdotter that died in 1832 with a residence of Rudnäs farm, but the age at death is off by a few years. I found that on HisKi Project.
Still, that might be her....
I think it is time to move on to a different ancestor and come back to Margeta and her husband some other day.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Johan Drill 22 July 1778
My 3rd great grandfather Johan Drill was a soldier in Finland, with a birth date of 22 July 1778.
However, his birth name was not Johan Drill, and I've been stumped for quite a while anytime I tried to discover his real name. I better add that soldiers in Finland were assigned new names, and the only reference I was able to find for him for a long time was as Johan Drill.
Last night looking at Finnish church records I discovered that he moved to Ylikiiminki, Finland from Oulu in 1809.
Once I knew where he was from, and already knowing his wife's name and date of their marriage, I searched Oulu, Finland marriages for her, and discovered that when they were married he was still using what I assume was his birth name of Johan Grönlund.
That had been one of those searches that just wasn't going anywhere for a long time. Some times I'd ignore him for a week or more and concentrate on more productive searches on other family members, but I kept going back to him, and finally it paid off!
However, his birth name was not Johan Drill, and I've been stumped for quite a while anytime I tried to discover his real name. I better add that soldiers in Finland were assigned new names, and the only reference I was able to find for him for a long time was as Johan Drill.
Last night looking at Finnish church records I discovered that he moved to Ylikiiminki, Finland from Oulu in 1809.
Once I knew where he was from, and already knowing his wife's name and date of their marriage, I searched Oulu, Finland marriages for her, and discovered that when they were married he was still using what I assume was his birth name of Johan Grönlund.
That had been one of those searches that just wasn't going anywhere for a long time. Some times I'd ignore him for a week or more and concentrate on more productive searches on other family members, but I kept going back to him, and finally it paid off!
Monday, September 19, 2016
Henrich Henrichsson Pöyskö
Henrich Henrichsson Pöyskö (Cal 2 Jan 1724-3 Dec 1795) and Elin Markusdotter Leskelä (17 Nov 1721-29 Apr 1796) are two of my 5th great grandparents, and their daughter Lisa ( 23 Feb 1751-11 Dec 1805) is my 4th great grandfather. The lived in Ylikiiminki, Finland. I have had them in my list of ancestors for a while now, and tonight I decided to investigate HisKi project on this family group to see if Lisa had any brothers and sisters.
Nice! I discovered Lisa had seven siblings (with a couple more that probably are siblings). The seven I felt confident in adding to my list of blood relatives were all born in Ylikiiminki, Finland,between the years of 1753 and 1766.
It takes a while for me to put seven more family members into my Legacy family tree software, so I only set tonight's goal at inputting their names, birth dates, christening dates, religion, and farm residence at time of their birth.
I am really hoping that all these newfound relatives lived long lives, married, and had children.
Nice! I discovered Lisa had seven siblings (with a couple more that probably are siblings). The seven I felt confident in adding to my list of blood relatives were all born in Ylikiiminki, Finland,between the years of 1753 and 1766.
It takes a while for me to put seven more family members into my Legacy family tree software, so I only set tonight's goal at inputting their names, birth dates, christening dates, religion, and farm residence at time of their birth.
I am really hoping that all these newfound relatives lived long lives, married, and had children.
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Disappearing Ancestors
It is a pleasure to discover that an individual in Finland that I am directly descended from had sisters and brothers that I was unaware of.
Yet all too frequently I find out that they died in infancy. Wishing to document as much about their short lives as possible, if I am lucky I can discover their birth dates, christening date, death date, burial date, and cause of death. Some of my ancestors only had one child survive to adulthood, enabling the family line to continue.
Other relatives from many years ago simply don't have any other information available online (that I can discover) other than their name and perhaps their birth date. No matter how long and hard I search, their just isn't any more info on them!
Sometimes I will end up going back to research these missing relatives from years ago and have success, but that is rare.
Yet all too frequently I find out that they died in infancy. Wishing to document as much about their short lives as possible, if I am lucky I can discover their birth dates, christening date, death date, burial date, and cause of death. Some of my ancestors only had one child survive to adulthood, enabling the family line to continue.
Other relatives from many years ago simply don't have any other information available online (that I can discover) other than their name and perhaps their birth date. No matter how long and hard I search, their just isn't any more info on them!
Sometimes I will end up going back to research these missing relatives from years ago and have success, but that is rare.
Friday, September 16, 2016
Matts Carlsson Modig
My 4th great-grandfather Matts Carlson Modig (1747-1789) is one of my brick walls, or end of the line ancestors. I started out by only having his name, and haven't added as much to that as I wish I could.
I don't even know his complete birth name or birth place!
You see, Matts Modig was a soldier in Finland, and at that time soldiers were assigned names, and it definitely appears that he kept that name throughout the remainder of his life.
Tonight I decided to see if he had any children other than my 3rd great-grandmother Malin Mattsdotter Modig. She was also called Madelana.
I discovered that Matts Modig was married twice, and his first wife Maria died the day after giving birth to their only child together. Matts and his second wife had 9 children!
Tonight I've been busy adding those newly discovered family members to my Legacy software. Adding all I want to add about the first wife, their child, and the children with his second wife will take a long time, and hopefully will lead to more family information.
I've only entered partial information on these newly discovered family members from so many years ago. What basic information did I enter into my Legacy software on these individuals? I limited myself to their names, birth dates, christening dates, birth locations, and christening locations. That will give me a good solid start for researching further!
Yes, I documented my sources for all this information I gathered, and yes, I paused and backed up my files tonight.
Tonight was a productive night, and I am pleased.
I don't even know his complete birth name or birth place!
You see, Matts Modig was a soldier in Finland, and at that time soldiers were assigned names, and it definitely appears that he kept that name throughout the remainder of his life.
Tonight I decided to see if he had any children other than my 3rd great-grandmother Malin Mattsdotter Modig. She was also called Madelana.
I discovered that Matts Modig was married twice, and his first wife Maria died the day after giving birth to their only child together. Matts and his second wife had 9 children!
Tonight I've been busy adding those newly discovered family members to my Legacy software. Adding all I want to add about the first wife, their child, and the children with his second wife will take a long time, and hopefully will lead to more family information.
I've only entered partial information on these newly discovered family members from so many years ago. What basic information did I enter into my Legacy software on these individuals? I limited myself to their names, birth dates, christening dates, birth locations, and christening locations. That will give me a good solid start for researching further!
Yes, I documented my sources for all this information I gathered, and yes, I paused and backed up my files tonight.
Tonight was a productive night, and I am pleased.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Find Finnish Ancestors
A good start place for finding your Finnish ancestors is a website called HisKi Project.
The start page I linked to above is in English, something many of us really need.
Keep in mind that the information is transcribed for this site from the original parish records by volunteers, and sometimes (but not often), there are mistakes. What they have made available online is great.
Many parishes in Finland are covered, and quite a few years have been covered. Keep in mind that more recent info is not posted (Finnish privacy laws?). The years covered vary by parish, and I seem to find many of the church records I hope to find information from have info from about 1700 to 1850. I have found a lot of good family info there!
What might they have? Births, christening dates, marriages, and deaths are the most commonly found items by me. These may also include farm names they resided on when the event occurred, causes of death, and occupation (or social status).
When filling out the search form, you don't have to fill out every section. For patronymic, sometimes unexpected forms of abbreviation may have been used. One example is Anderson, sometimes it is spelled out as expected, sometimes not. If I can't find what I want by the name I expected, I go back and search using only the first letter of the name. That sometimes helps.
You may also wish to expand your search by including more years in the date you are searching for.
For my level of certainty on any results I find here, I label my results no higher than "Almost Certain" because I am not seeing the actual original document.
The start page I linked to above is in English, something many of us really need.
Keep in mind that the information is transcribed for this site from the original parish records by volunteers, and sometimes (but not often), there are mistakes. What they have made available online is great.
Many parishes in Finland are covered, and quite a few years have been covered. Keep in mind that more recent info is not posted (Finnish privacy laws?). The years covered vary by parish, and I seem to find many of the church records I hope to find information from have info from about 1700 to 1850. I have found a lot of good family info there!
What might they have? Births, christening dates, marriages, and deaths are the most commonly found items by me. These may also include farm names they resided on when the event occurred, causes of death, and occupation (or social status).
When filling out the search form, you don't have to fill out every section. For patronymic, sometimes unexpected forms of abbreviation may have been used. One example is Anderson, sometimes it is spelled out as expected, sometimes not. If I can't find what I want by the name I expected, I go back and search using only the first letter of the name. That sometimes helps.
You may also wish to expand your search by including more years in the date you are searching for.
For my level of certainty on any results I find here, I label my results no higher than "Almost Certain" because I am not seeing the actual original document.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Document Your Ancestors
Documenting your source of information for your ancestors is an easy thing to do, though it may add a minute or so to each and every event you discover about an ancestor's life, it may be important to know where you got the information later on.
Be specific, if it is off a website, don't just give the name of the website, copy and paste the url (webpage address) as the source of your information.
If your genealogy software allows it, give a confidence level to the accuracy of your source. What is the perfect source of information? For me, it is seeing an image of the actual document. It would be nice to see the actual document, but that is probably almost impossible for most of us.
Be specific, if it is off a website, don't just give the name of the website, copy and paste the url (webpage address) as the source of your information.
If your genealogy software allows it, give a confidence level to the accuracy of your source. What is the perfect source of information? For me, it is seeing an image of the actual document. It would be nice to see the actual document, but that is probably almost impossible for most of us.
Monday, August 22, 2016
Last Names In Finland
Last night while working on one pair of my 3rd great grandparents I had more than my usual amount of confusion as I started out.
I felt fairly confident that my 3rd great grandfather's name was Johan Andersson Luomanperä.
Yet I found references to what I believed was him listing him as Johan Andersson Herlefvi and also Johan Andersson Huhtakangas. Adding to my confusion was that he was from Ullava, Finland. I had no other ancestors from this town.
Could this be the same person?
Yes! What we think of today as a permanent last name was, in the time of my 3rd great grandfather the name of the farm they lived on. If they moved to a different farm, they took that farm name as their "last name".
Usually my male ancestors were born, lived their lives, and died on the same farm. Not so with Johan, and that added over an hour to my research just trying to convince myself that these three names referred to the same person.
I felt fairly confident that my 3rd great grandfather's name was Johan Andersson Luomanperä.
Yet I found references to what I believed was him listing him as Johan Andersson Herlefvi and also Johan Andersson Huhtakangas. Adding to my confusion was that he was from Ullava, Finland. I had no other ancestors from this town.
Could this be the same person?
Yes! What we think of today as a permanent last name was, in the time of my 3rd great grandfather the name of the farm they lived on. If they moved to a different farm, they took that farm name as their "last name".
Usually my male ancestors were born, lived their lives, and died on the same farm. Not so with Johan, and that added over an hour to my research just trying to convince myself that these three names referred to the same person.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Genealogy Software
I suppose I could have organized the information on my family history by using word pad or notepad, and that would have been fine up to a point. However, once my knowledge grew to dozens and then hundreds of ancestors I was glad I had genealogy software that greatly simplified my family history.
There is free genealogy software available, do a Google search and you will find an assortment of programs. Of course you can always purchase genealogy software.
What do I use? I started with Ancestral Quest, and it really made my record keeping easy. I accumulated information on 1,637 individuals that I believed I was related to, then my computer died (I did have backup on another device).
I was skeptical of the accuracy of some of my existing information, and decided to start all over again on my replacement computer.
Just for fun, I decided to try the free version of Legacy Family Tree for my redo of my family ancestry. I liked it enough that I soon upgraded to their paid version. Legacy Family Tree has an excellent support group on Facebook, and that is one of the reasons why I decided to use Legacy Family Tree as my only actively used genealogy software.
I am sure there must be other great genealogy software programs available, but those are the two I have tried, with no complaints about either one.
There is free genealogy software available, do a Google search and you will find an assortment of programs. Of course you can always purchase genealogy software.
What do I use? I started with Ancestral Quest, and it really made my record keeping easy. I accumulated information on 1,637 individuals that I believed I was related to, then my computer died (I did have backup on another device).
I was skeptical of the accuracy of some of my existing information, and decided to start all over again on my replacement computer.
Just for fun, I decided to try the free version of Legacy Family Tree for my redo of my family ancestry. I liked it enough that I soon upgraded to their paid version. Legacy Family Tree has an excellent support group on Facebook, and that is one of the reasons why I decided to use Legacy Family Tree as my only actively used genealogy software.
I am sure there must be other great genealogy software programs available, but those are the two I have tried, with no complaints about either one.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
My Four Family Trees
Tracing my family back through the generations I like knowing which of my four family trees each of my ancestors belongs to.
Four family trees? Yes, I like to know whether an individual belongs in my paternal grandfather's, paternal grandmother's, maternal grandfather's, or maternal grandmother's family tree.
I suppose other people may not find this as important as I do, but it is nice knowing at a glance which of my four family trees an individual is part of. How do I accomplish this? It is so simple I am ashamed to admit it took a couple years for me to come up with it.
My software allows me to display an image (or profile picture) for each person in my family history. I created four images that simply say "Ancestor Of" and which of my grandparents this person is a blood relative of. Then I use that same image file over and over again for anyone that belongs in that family tree.
There are people I document that are not blood relatives, yet still belong in my family trees. A simple example would be an individual that married my grandfather's sister. For that type of relationship, I have created and image with the words "No, not directly related, related by marriage"
Four family trees? Yes, I like to know whether an individual belongs in my paternal grandfather's, paternal grandmother's, maternal grandfather's, or maternal grandmother's family tree.
I suppose other people may not find this as important as I do, but it is nice knowing at a glance which of my four family trees an individual is part of. How do I accomplish this? It is so simple I am ashamed to admit it took a couple years for me to come up with it.
My software allows me to display an image (or profile picture) for each person in my family history. I created four images that simply say "Ancestor Of" and which of my grandparents this person is a blood relative of. Then I use that same image file over and over again for anyone that belongs in that family tree.
There are people I document that are not blood relatives, yet still belong in my family trees. A simple example would be an individual that married my grandfather's sister. For that type of relationship, I have created and image with the words "No, not directly related, related by marriage"
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