Special Feature:
To benchmark (so to speak) one of the
SweAme 2013 accomplishments (the online documentation of the Minnesota Swedish
emigrants), this year’s “Special Feature” is the American Swedish Institute,
Turnblad Mansion Museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In
1908, the Turnblads—a Swedish immigrant family—completed the construction of
their castle-like mansion on Minneapolis’ Park Avenue. Just twenty-one years
later, they gave it all away to the community, founding the organization that
would become the American Swedish Institute.
Visitors
can tour the Turnblad Mansion, enjoy exhibitions in the Mansion and Osher
Gallery, experience contemporary Swedish and Nordic culture alongside
Minneapolis history, find unique Nordic designed products in the Museum Shop,
dine at FIKA, and share stories and experiences.
Hours
Museum (Turnblad Mansion) requires
paid admission
Tuesday,
Thursday, Friday
|
noon –5 p.m.
|
Wednesday
|
noon.–8 p.m.
|
Saturday
|
10 a.m. - 5
p.m.
|
Sunday
|
noon–5 p.m.
|
Mondays
& most holidays
|
Closed
|
2600 Park Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55407612 871-4907
SweAme Purpose:
The Board of
Directors of the SweAme non-profit organization would like to thank ALL of you
for your participation this past year.
This year was
our third full year as an incorporated entity and we are making progress on
accomplishing our primary purpose and goals.
Our purpose as
stated in our IRS 501(c)(3) status request document and as contained in the
SweAme By-Laws is:
A. SweAme is
organized exclusively for charitable, educational, religious, or scientific
purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
B. In particular, the purpose of SweAme is for educational and historical
research;
·
by the
digital preservation of genealogy data, records, documents, and images
related to persons of Swedish ancestry,
·
by promoting public knowledge of and an
interest in the history of persons of Scandinavian - and particularly Swedish –
ancestry,
·
by presenting the contents of the Online
Internet data base as a FREE and open resource for all public users,
·
by facilitating an environment of learning
and participation by Swedish Emigrant’s Swedish and American descendants in the
documentation of their own separate branches
Our goals and
objectives to accomplish this purpose are being met by our growing volume of
Registered Users and the accumulation of multiple types of historical
information. This growth has been the
result of a strong growth in the interest in family genealogy and historical
documentation by Swedish American and Swedish descendants and, of course, the
increased availability and functionality of the Internet.
The SweAme focus
will continue to be the digitization of the Swedish immigrants who were living
in America and documented in the 1900 census records. This basic immigrant family information is
being updated by Registered Users on both sides of the Atlantic with
information on their own expanding family branches.
SweAme Accomplishments:
Program Status
The SweAme (www.sweame.org) websites are well positioned to facilitate the growing interest in
digitizing our past and present and therefore this interest has exceeded our
expectations. As of December 31, 2013,
the data base statistics have again more than doubled over the previous
reporting year:
2013 % Growth 2012 2011
Individuals: 537,267 103% 264,327 124,473 Families 151,244 119% 69,065 32,526
Project Status
In 2013 SweAme project teams have completed the states of Idaho, New
Hampshire, Oregon, Wyoming and the Swedes In Minnesota major project. This brings the total emigrant count up to
207,839, which is 35% of the Swedish emigrants who were living in America in
the year 1900. The total completed state
and territory count is up to 33 (which includes Washington D.C.). This leaves SweAme with 19 remaining states
and territories to capture and document online.
Hardware & Software Upgrades
There were no major hardware and software upgrades in 2013.
Major Project
Completions
This year’s major project accomplishment was funded by the The Barbro
Osher Pro Suecia Foundation. This
project was completed in July and included the Swedish immigrants that were
living in Minnesota in the year 1900. It
was executed by two contractors; Brenda Dahlberg (Dallas, Texas), Kathie
Pearson (Stamford, Texas), and one management team volunteer.
SweAme Registered User Special Recognition:
This year we are very pleased to present a SweAme Register User from
Sweden – Amir Sherif - who has made significant progress in documenting his
Swedish family. We are very honored that
he has made the SweAme website his home for recording and sharing his
heritage. Here is Amir’s story:
By Amir Sherif
My
maternal grandma used to tell me that she once upon a time had an offer from a
cousin to emigrate to USA. This should have been way back in the 1920s, and her
cousin had already established himself after emigration and used to come home
to Sweden on a regular basis to see his family and report of his new life
overseas.
A couple
of years ago I had received a 100 page genealogical report on my maternal
grandpas history from a cousin in Småland, and it had interested me a lot. But,
first by the beginning of 2013 I had the opportunity to read it. Finally I
decided to try to set up a tree over the internet, and started at one of the
commercially available sites. Working on the tree, I was also curious to pursue
matters on my maternal grandmas side.
She was
born in Järsnäs in Jönköping county, and I hadn´t a clue of where to start.
After several attempts asking my mother about names, I finally had some data to
start with. Still there wasn´t much information available on-line until I by
chance found out about the SWEAME website. I contacted Mr David Borg with my
few names, and he started to help me in this, and many other matters as the
whole process started to evolve. With the help of a number of Swedish on-line
registers and the data found in Emigranten Populär, we finally could identify
my grandmas cousin:
Further
research showed that he had two more siblings who had emigrated too, and at
first all these persons had a place in the Iowa section at the website.
Meanwhile my research back in the generations of my grandma led me back to the
surname “Kindgren”. That surname is for certain not Smålandic and pointed
instead to the province of Östergötland – I was surprised over this, and it
took me a lot of energy and basic research to find out that my 5th
great Grandfather along the Kindgren-line, was Erik Andersson Kindgren born in
1739 at the croft of Stora Fjättersund in Kimstad Parish, Östergötland. He had
been a gardener who moved southwards to Småland and Jönköping County once upon
a time.
Looking
for the Kindgrens in Jönköping, I encountered two persons: Peter Kindgren and
Anders Kindgren. At first I just had a feeling that they were related (but I
was far from certain), and it took a good deal of basic work to finally
understand that they were both sons of Erik, and that they were the origins of
99% of all Kindgrens in Småland – especially Jönköping county. From Anders
Kindgren I finally could trace a number of emigrants, especially Texans, and as
the amount steadily increased – Mr Borg and I decided to put my whole family
tree in the Texas section instead. The main directly connected families were
the Starks, through Mr Henry Stark
a brave
and morally strong man who cared for his family and for his motherless kids
after the tragic demise of his first wife, and brought the lot of his kids all
the way over the Atlantic Ocean to Texas – in a time when travels must have
been a major ordeal. Furthermore, I managed to figure out that also his brother
had emigrated (until then unrecorded on the site) – that is Mr Anders Johan
Carlson
Through
these two brothers down the lines, I finally found out the connections to a
number of Central Texas families – apart from the Starks - like the Adamsons,
Andersons, Crofts, Munsons, Sellstroms, Fosbergs, Berkmans, Skoogs, Quicks and
so forth.
To my great astonishment, I also
found out that on my maternal grandpas side there were Texans. My maternal
grandfather was from the southern parts of Jönköping County originally (Hjälmseryd)
and from some northern parishes of Kronoberg county – and originally had
nothing to do with my maternal grandmas side due to geographical distance. One
major branch in his family is the Malm branch. While reading the online edition
of Swedes in Texas (page 637) I stumbled over this sentence
“The
widow, EMMA GUSTAFSON, born Malm, had her home in Hjortsberga, Småland, where
she was born in 1856”
The
name Malm and the Parish name of Hjortsberga brought out my curiosity, and
after working some more on the basic research, it turned out that Mrs Gustafson
was my grandpas aunt, who after marriage in Nässjö, had emigrated in 1881 to
Texas with her husband!
To do
my research I use tools like SVAR.RA (Swedish National Archives), the Central
Soldiers register, a number of both American and Swedish registers through two
of the commercial websites and some other similar registers. My most valued
tool so far is Arkivdigital Go to Arkivdigital. in which I find data on Church records
at the very root of matters, and also in bright and highly readable color
pictures. To me it is of great importance to have the exact data on every
person, matters can otherwise become incorrect and totally confusing with all
the Anderssons, Johanssons, Peterssons and so forth – especially having in mind
that surnames in Sweden until early 1900s, changed with every generation (the
tradition of patronymic Go to
Wikipedia). I usually don´t want to put any data on the
website, unless I have convincing information from at least one or more bona
fide sources.
Finally
I can say that the research goes on, and I find new data and new distant family
connections almost every week – both in Sweden and in USA, not only in Texas
and Iowa, but also in Illinois, California and so forth. This is really an
intriguing and interesting hobby, especially as I am very much interested of
the social settings and historic connections of each identified person. By
following these valued members of our ancestral origins, we can start to
understand their lives and their hardships. It is also of great importance in
understanding the Swedish history and a way to put all these persons in their
historical, social and economic context. What did they do for a living? In what
setting did they have to grow up and adapt? What did Sweden look like in the
1700s and further on in the 1800s when it became industrialized? Why did some
people move to larger cities in Sweden and others just leave the country and
start all over on a totally new continent (20-25 % of the total population!!)?
What did they bring with them when emigrating, in aspects of knowledge, skills,
ethics, morals and values? All these subjects are more or less endless. Once you
have identified real persons – and especially family relations, even if distant
– you find it more rewarding to get to look for a number of mentioned aspects,
and not only birthdates and dates of death. Working with the SWEAME website has
truly helped me a lot in pursuing, not only a structured genealogy and
tree-building, but also in my attempts to understand the real persons behind
all the names and dates.
SweAme Summary Financials:
2013 Income – from BOPSF: $4,000.00
2013 Expenses – Swedes In Minnesota: $4,000.00Net Income/(loss): $ 0.00
Board of Directors:
Doug Anderson, Richmond, Texas
Jan Augustsson, Ytterby, SwedenLissa Bengtson, San Antonio, Texas
Larry Blomquist, Mesa, Arizona
David Borg, Salem, Missouri
Elin Criswell, Georgetown, Texas
Jeanne Rollberg, Little Rock, Arkansas
Organization Advisor:
John Norton, Moline, Illinois
Completed States/Territories:
Alabama
ArkansasArizona Terr.
California
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii Terr.
Indian Terr.
Idaho
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wyoming
Finest regards,
David Borg, Chairmanwww.sweame.org