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Note: [Lla&hia.ftw]
PROLOGUE - GENEALOGY FACTS In order to fully grasp the problems regarding the gathering of competent genealogy facts, one must have actually made the effort to start genealogy research oneself. Searching for surnames is one of the largest headaches, as the European countries did not use a surname system as is now currently used (mostly by enacted laws in some countries). Denmark and Sweden (probably Norway, Finland, Deutschland, etc.) used some archaic system.
SURNAMES: Earlier history shows the use of common names related to that person's trade: "john the welder," "sam the viking," "alex the taxcollector" or "jill the streetwalker." Very similar to how the indians named their children depending on the signs on the date of birth (some very strange signs must have occurred if you examine the indians' names carefully).
Then the Swedes started using a first name along with a surname consisting of the first name of the paternal parent (i.e. "father") plus either "sson" for the son or "sdotter" for the daughter. This is called "PATRONYMICS." Jake Andersson's son Jim would have a moniker "Jim Jakesson" and a daughter Jill's moniker would be "Jill Jakesdotter." Jim's son would be "Bill Jimsson" whose son would be "Alex Billsson." However, many used the first name as "Ander" and you will find a lot of "Anderssons" in the search, but none related.
In Denmark, until about 1850-1870, most ordinary people used patronymics instead of surnames. Patronymics are made from the christian name of a persons father, followed by "sen" (=son) or "datter" (=daugther). So, eg. Jens Nielsens daugther Maren's full name would be "Maren Jensdatter". And his son S�ren would be "S�ren Jensen. Actually, patronymics were abolished by Denmark law in 1826 as the authorities wanted people to use family surnames instead. It was slow to change and took another twenty to thirty years to really effectuate a change in this custom.
RECORD KEEPING: Further, in tracing a name one also needs to know the layout of the countries involved, their history and how they maintained their records. Since a lot of my ancestors are of the Swedish, Denmark and Austrian blood, it is proper to read a little about those countries. Even though the boundaries of East and West Germany were changed often due to wars in Europe, it appears the boundary between Denmark and West Germany has remained relatively stable for the past 200 years or more. So, a search for birth records after 1648 in Flensburg, Denmark would have been in error because after that date Flensburg was a part of Austria or West Germany. However, the city's records and church records should have stayed intact; but the immigration records and possible birth/marriage records could be elsewhere - possibly moved to the province seat of Schleswig, Germany.
FLENSBURG: It is said that in the 12th century a knight with the name "Fleno" built a towercastle just inside of the present harbor of Flensburg. In the place where this castle is said to have been, there is now situated the oldest church of the town: Sankt Johannis. It was in 1284 that Flensburg was given the right to organize as a city.
In the 16th century this period of time was the real heyday of Flensburg the town had 5,000 inhabitants and 200 ships. It was the biggest trading harbor city of the Danish crown, even bigger than Copenhagen was at that time. Two hundred years later, after the thirty-years-war in the middle Europe (1618-1648) and after some fires and plundering, only 9 ships subsided in the harbor, which was flattening due to sand deposits. By trading with the East Indies for its sugar cane, Flensburg became a known producer and exporter of Rum - having 150 distilleries in town.
SWEDEN: From world maps you will find Sweden nestled in the northwest corner of Europe, lying outside the grasps of Russia by virtue of the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Bothnia. Sweden shares the peninsula with Norway, as Norway covers the western mountain slopes along this continental sheet drift and Sweden occupies the eastern slope. Finland (once conquered and then occupied by
Swedish Vikings of old) lies on the northeast corner of Sweden.
Sweden lies at the same latitude as does Alaska, but due to the Gulf Stream enjoys a moderate climate. The Goths tribe found the climate more to their liking in the southern Gotland portion of Sweden and the Svear tribe ("Svearland") found the northern and central regions more to their likings in the years 300 B.C. to 600 A.D. In the years 700 - 900 A.D. the swedish vikings (Scandinavians) migrated into Europe (all Swedes eventually migrate somewhere as it is definitely in their blood and genes), settled Finland and Estonia, later lost back to Russia in 1809.
Sweden has a monarchy democracy, as the king became a figurehead when democracy was voted in a constitutional election (revolution) in 1809. The language is Germanic - swedes, danish and norwegians all "speakee the same lingo" to an understandably degree.
It is recorded (and that is where genealogy comes into play) that between the early 1800s and the early 1900s over one million swedes migrated to the United States. Most of these immigrations, during a certain time frame, were recorded by either the government or by the marine records themselves.
Some Danish countries have changed boundaries and names so often it is not sure which country has retained the original birth, death and marital records. In some instances the churches have better records. Grave yard searches for tombstone inscriptions are necessary in some instance (you hope "john the headstone engraver" was not too tooted and thus inscribed the correct date).
Then, the record keeper or marine record keeper has the problem of spelling the pronounced names into the language he was comfortable with.
SHIP MANIFESTS: Another recognized avenue for tracing one's heritage is by searching the United States maritime records and the debarking country's immigration records, along with the ship logs of the possible marine vessels carrying immigrants to America. And, there were a whole lot of them and of all different types. Even cargo ships stored immigrants aboard.
NATURALIZATION: The United States naturalization records are generally found in the federal court records of the federal district where the application was filed. Before women' rights of September 22, 1922, there were no such records kept for women (Philadelphia only had 22 files regarding women before 1922), as most could not get naturalized. Except for minors under 18 years of age (the filing of declaration of intention was deleted as a requirement), all applications had a two year wait (file declaration of intention) and then a five year residency rule before filing final application. Further, before 1906 the records did not reflect the parentage, children's or wife's name or other material data needed by genealogists.
SALT LAKE CITY ARCHIVES: The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints (Mormons) has the world's largest genealogy research facilities (mostly underground, safe from a nuclear attack) and records amassed from all over the world. It has established many branch libraries in almost every city of this nation and overseas, where free searches may be made through their linked data
banks. They do not have this material stored on the internet, but do provide much helpful information about their facilities and tips on how to make a search.
INTERNET: With the internet much of the time and methods of access to difficult information (plus exorbitant costs) have been eliminated. I have found in a six hour search on the Web material in one night that would have taken months to have discovered and probably many hundreds of dollars. I also found at one off-the-tract search links to material and books that provided missing information directly on point that takes my linkage back to 1635. I even thought I had found the missing Denmark link that Natalie Smith had been searching for - came close.
Found in Denmark and West Germany around 100 "Ros" and "Roos" names at one spot and one with a "Martha" name and birthday of the same year as our Martha ("Mattie") Ros, but there is no guarantee it is the same person.
So, there is no absolutes in this field. There can be a lot of logical deductions and nearly absolute conclusions when you have garnered enough facts that appears to bear out your assumptions; however, you are never quite sure without doing a DNA test on the exhumed body and checking it with some hair sample held in the Flensburg church. What are the odds of that occurring?
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