memorial day

We just celebrated Memorial Day, which made me wish that I had spent some time at the cemeteries. I am not sure why I did not go out, I think that my kids would not have appreciated spending one of the first nice weekends walking through cemeteries searching for ancestors.

It did get me thinking of which cemetery I most wanted to visit. About once a week I drive past the Hanover Center Cemetery. I always glance at the stones as I drive by looking for familiar names. One of my third great grandmothers, Maria (Harding) Stoddard is buried in Hanover according to her death record. Maria died in Norwell on August 11, 1908. I have yet to take the time to try to find her though. I thought rather than going to a cemetery this Memorial Day, I would focus on finding where exactly Maria is buried.

I called the Cemetery department for Hanover, which is in the Public Works department. I spoke with a very nice person who looked in her records for Maria, but was unable to find her. She looked under both Harding and Stoddard. She also searched for Maria's husband, David Stoddard, but no luck. She said there were about two pages of Stoddards though; unfortuantely, not from my family.

I then emailed the Quincy Public library to ask for a look up of Maria's obituary for me. I have had so much luck emailing and getting Patriot Ledger newspaper articles and obituaries from the librarians in Quincy. Again, no luck this time. The librarian stated that most of the obituaries during this time were from Braintree, Quincy, and Weymouth.

I searched a little bit to see if there were other newspapers in Norwell or Hanover during the early 1900's, but I did not come up with any. I think my next step would be to visit the local libraries, Norwell and Hanover, to see if they have any advice. I also came across a South Shore Genealogical Society website, which would be interesting to see what kind of information they have. I emailed them for information on membership, but their website does not look to have been updated since 2009.

I am more determined now to find where Maria is buried and finally visit her.

UPDATE: (sept 2013)
I found Maria!  I went to the Union Cemetery, Assinippi, in Hanover, MA to try to find some Stoddards that were referenced in a deed to have bought land in this cemetery.  According to Plymouth deed 76(261), Hezekiah Stoddard, my 5th great grandfather, (Maria's husband David Stoddard's grandfather), would be buried here.  I went looking for him, and came across the stone for David T Stoddard and Maria Harden Stoddard, buried with three of their children, David, Henry and Joseph.  I was not expecting to find them here, but I am so happy I did!  (I never did find Hezekiah, but I think that his stone has either faded or is missing)

From memorial day maria harden stoddard

benjamin whiton and joanna gardner

I know that the names of one set of my 6th great-grandparents are Benjamin Whiton and Joanna. I know this because my 5th great grandfather, their son Benjamin Whiton (b 1772), died in 1858 and the death index for the South Scituate vital records on americanancestors.org lists Benjamin and Joanna as his parents. This death record also states Benjamin was 85 years old when he died, and was born in Hingham. According to the Hingham records available on americanancestors.org, a Benjamin Whiton and a Joanna Gardner married in Hingham on April 27, 1766. This was the only Benjamin Whiton in Hingham listed on the Hingham index marrying a Joanna during this time. As of now, this is the best documentation I have that Benjamin Whiton and Joanna Gardner are my 6th great grandparents.

The History of the Town of Hingham (1893), also came to the conclusion that Benjamin and Joanna Gardner are Benjamin's parents; as seen in the excerpt below from google books:



The book has a bit more information on the couple than I have been able to find using only online resources. I was only able to locate the birth records of two of their children on americanancestors.org, Benjamin (mentioned above b. 1772 d. 1858) and Joanna (b. 1768). The Hingham book has my 6th great grandparents having 6 children in Hingham. My guess as to where the authors found this information would be church records, land records, or probate.

Rather than writing a post on information I have on Benjamin and Joanna, I am going to focus on how I will eventually go about finding these church records, land records, and probate records. These documents will provide further evidence that Benjamin and Joanna are who I think they are.

My first step will be to go to the Hingham Public Library as it looks like they have a large collection of historical documents for the town of Hingham, including vital records. The NEHGS database online that I have access to seems to only be a handwritten transcription of Hingham records, so looking at copies of the original documents may provide more information. In these birth records I would be looking for Joanna's last name, hopefully Gardner, and other children of Benjamin and Joanna.

The Hingham Public Library also produced a list of other historical documents which may be of interest. One item I would be looking for is a deed or will of Joanna Gardner's father to see if he mentions Joanna and her husband Benjamin Whiton, further evidence that Joanna's last name is Gardner. The resource list for Hingham Public Library states they hold some Hingham deeds. According to the History of Hingham book, Joanna's father was John Gardner who died in Hingham in 1802.


Joanna Gardner's family from History of the Town of Hingham, vol 2 (1893)


If Hingham Public Library does not have the deeds or probate I am looking for, I will next have to find these records at the courts. Hingham was part of Norfolk County until 1803, so I need to find a probate book which indexes records in Norfolk and maybe even Plymouth County since the year is so close to the change in counties. There is a book titled, Probate index, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1793-1900, which would tell me if John Gardner created a will. Hingham Public Library does not hold this book though, but the New England Historic Genealogical Library does. The actual records are also on microfilm at NEHGS and the Family History Centers. The Family History Centers also hold microfilm of Land records - Deeds, 1793-1890 for this time period from Norfolk County. I will have to do the same for Plymouth County probate and deeds - both at Family History Center. The NEHGS library also holds Plymouth County probate index and records.

I do have some idea of where Benjamin and Joanna may have lived in Hingham. Gathering information from historical maps, census, and the Hingham history book, I wrote about Benjamin's land in another post. It would be great to find the deeds or probate relating to these land transactions.

While I was researching another ancestor in Hingham, George Lane French (whose grandson would marry Benjamin's grandaughter), I came across a resource that may also provide information on the Whitings in Hingham. There are church documents available for the First Church in Hingham, records by Reverend Ebenezer Gay, which the Massachusetts Historical Society and the New England Historical Genealogical Society both hold. From all the information I have on the Whitings though, it seems they lived in the Southern part of Hingham. Therefore, they may not be listed in these documents which are from the First Parish, not the Second Parish. The document that the Massachusetts Historical Society holds does state in the description that it contains some information on the Second Parish though. I am not sure if the Hingham Public Library holds similar documents, but they may be included in their Hingham Vital Records 1633-1900 on microfilm, as this is how the NEHGS catalogs the document in their library.

I have not been able to find a similar document for the Second Parish which lists births, marriages and deaths for Hingham. The only book I found that might contain some information is Two hundred years in South Hingham, 1746-1946, at the NEHGS library. This looks to be a history of the Second Church of Hingham, so it probably does not contain much vital records.

Once I find more information on Benjamin and Joanna, I will write a little about their life together in Hingham. I produced a lengthy to do list below organized by repository; hopefully I will be able to visit at least one library in the near future. I also searched the cenuses for 1790-1810, as these are the censuses available when Benjamin and Joanna were supposedly living. I will put all this information together in another post, but have noted my thoughts below.

Looking at census :

1790 Hingham,
Benjamin Whiting Senior: 1 male over 16, 1 female (prob. Benj. parents)
Benjamin Whiting Junior: 3 males under 16 (Joseph, Archelaus, Luther); 1 male over 16 (Benj), 2 females (Joanna, Asenath) (but where would his son Benjamin be - he would be abt. 18 years old in 1790 - but not married yet - maybe he is apprenticed somewhere - he becomes a blacksmith)

1800 Census, Hingham
Benjamin Whiton Jr.: 1 male 16-25 (Luther or Joseph, Benj. and Archelaus are married), 1 male 45 and over (Benjamin), 1 female 26-44 (Asenath - did she marry), 1 female 45 and over (Joanna)
Benjamin Whiton: 1 male 45 and over, 2 females 45 and over (probably Benj. parents - and maybe a mother in law)
1800 Census, Hanover (actually Scituate on lower page)
Benjamin Whiting: 2 males under 10 (Jared and Richard), 1 male 26-44 (Benjamin), 1 female 26-44 (Lydia)

1810 Census, Hingham
Benjamin Whiton: 1 male 26-44 (Luther or Joseph or Archelaus whose wife died), 1 male 45 and over (Benj), 1 female under 10 (? maybe archelaus daughter elizabeth - mother died, archelaus enlisted in 1812), 1 female 26-44 (Asenath)

to do:

Hingham Public Library :
1. vital records on microfilm
    a. see if Joanna's last name is listed on birth record of their son Benjamin
    b. find birth records of other children of Benjamin and Joanna
    c. find marriage record of Benjamin and Joanna - does it provide any more information
2. look for deeds and/or probate records for Benjamin Whiting Sr.(d.1806) and John Gardner (d.1802) to see if they list Benjamin and Joanna or their children.
3. look at George Lincoln's Diary
4. book on the History of the Second Church of Hingham, Two hundred years in South Hingham, 1746-1946 : the story of a church and a community / by Donald F. Robinson

NEHGS:
1. vital records - contains Rev. Ebenezer Gay for First Parish - maybe has info on second parish
2 book History of Second Church, Two hundred years in South Hingham, 1746-1946 : the story of a church and a community / by Donald F. Robinson
3. probate index and records on microfilm for norfolk county, MA - looking for information on John Gardner and Benjamin Whiton, Sr. linking parents to Benjamin and Joanna.
4. probate records and index for plymouth county - looking for information on John Gardner and Benjamin Whiton, Sr. linking parents to Benjamin and Joanna.
5. book on Whiting Genealogy : The Whiton family in America and genealogy of the descendants of Thomas Whiton (1635).
6. book on Whiting family : Memoir of Rev. Samuel Whiting, D.D., and of his wife, Elizabeth St. John, with references to some of their English ancestors and American descendants / William Whiting. Also a database online at americanancestors.org
7. There are three pages in the NEHGS library catalog when you search under subject Whiting Family.

Massachusetts Historical Society:
1. town records - contains Ebenezer Gay records but also contains some Second Parish information

Family History Centers :
1. probate index and records on microfilm for norfolk county, MA - looking for information on John Gardner and Benjamin Whiton, Sr. linking parents to Benjamin and Joanna.
2. land deeds for Norfolk County - looking for information on John Gardner and Benjamin Whiton, Sr. linking parents to Benjamin and Joanna.
3.  do the same for Plymouth County probate and deeds

pierre labrecque (1786)

Pierre Labreque was my fourth great grandfather. He was born on the Ile D'Orleans, Quebec, Canada. Pierre is a descendant of Pierre Labrec who was born in the 1600s in St. Jacques, Dieppe, Normandie, France and one of the first settlers of the Ile D' Orleans.

Pierre Labreque was born on April 22, 1786, and baptised the same day at the parish of St. Jean on the Island. He was the first child of Pierre Labreque and Marie Catherine Godbout. He came from a large family of 11 brothers and sisters.

Pierre lived his entire life on the Ile D'Orleans. Life on the island was probably a little isolated at this time as the only way across the river was by boat or crossing over the ice in the winter. Some history of the island can be found at the Ile D'Orleans tourism website. I am guessing the original settlers that were granted land on the island divided and passed on their land to their children. If families were as large as Pierre's, they would quickly run out of land to give to their children; which would result in descendants eventually leaving the island. Pierre was the oldest child in his family which probably enabled him to stay on the island while some of his siblings did settle off the island with their new families.

Picture of the St. Jean Church on the Ile D'Orleans
from the Tourisme Ile D'Olreans website

When Pierre was 26 years old he married Margueritte Audibert dit Lajeunesse on October 5, 1812 at the parish of St. Jean. They had one child together, Marguerite, before his wife died in 1816. Pierre married again at the age of 35 to my 4th great grandmother, Euphrosine Blouin, on February 4, 1822 at the same parish. They had at least seven children together; Pierre was 56 when he his last child, Sarah, was born (Euphrosine was 43).

Pierre was in his early 50's when his mother and father died in the 1830's. He was already married at this time, so I am not sure if he was living on land of his own or on his father's farm. They also could have received land from Euprhosine's family, or perhaps even his first wife's family. This information would come from notary records, but I would need to find which notaries recorded information for the island during this time period before I can find the documents.

The 1851/52 Census of Canada has Pierre and Euphrosine still living in St. Jean parish of the Ile D'Orleans. They are listed with their son Pierre, seemingly on the same land, living in a one story brick house. The 1861 census does not have the parish noted, but Pierre and his wife are in district 8 on the island; this time listed with their son Ferdinand, not Pierre. (I will have to find out which district this is). By the 1871 census, they are listed in the parish of St. Laurent, again with Ferdinand, district 148. In all the records that I have found for Pierre, his occupation is listed as cultivatuer or agriculteur (farmer). There were many river pilots and boatsmen on the island, but it seems most of my ancestors were farmers on the Ile D'Orleans.

At least two major historical events occurred in Pierre's lifetime. The first was the cholera outbreak of 1832 in Quebec. A ship from Ireland brough sick passengers to Canada, which resulted in a fast outbreak of Cholera in Quebec. One Canadian History website states the outbreak resulted in the death of a tenth of the quebec population. I am sure it was a frightening time for Pierre, especially since he had a son, Ferdinand, born in July of 1832. Ferdinand and everyone else in Pierre's family survived the outbreak though, perhaps it was not as bad on the island. The other historical event was the Patriot's War, or the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837-1838. The French Canadians fought against the Colonial English that held power over Lower Canada, but failed. I am not sure how invovled residents on the Ile D'Orleans were with this rebellion, but since the Ile D'Orleans was part of Lower Canada, they would continuosly be affected by the government of England (note 1).

Pierre died in October of 1879; living a long life of 93 years, surviving his wife by two years. He also survived all eleven of his siblings except one; Joseph, who died one year later (note 2). Pierre was fortunate to have all seven of his children still living when he died, leaving him at least 59 grandchildren, all born before Pierre passed (note 3). That number seems too large to even imagine. Pierre also had at least thirteen great grandchildren by the time he died in 1879 (note 4).

Although Pierre was recorded last as living in the parish of St. Laurent in 1871; his death was recorded in the parish of St. Jean. I assume he was also buried in the St. Jean parish cemetery.

notes:
1. There were many reorganizations of Canada throughout Pierre's lifetime. When Pierre was born, Quebec was known as the province of Quebec, under Birtish rule. The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada, allowing Lower Canada (now Quebec), to retain French law and institutions; while accomodating the newly English speaking residents of Upper Canada (now Ontario) with English Laws. The French Canadians of Quebec did not always comply with British rule though, and during the 1830s, groups organized which eventually led to the Rebellion of 1838. The French Patriots failed though, wich resulted in the Act of the Union in 1840, uniting Upper and Lower Canada, creating the Province of Canada. Lower Canada (Quebec) was now unofficially called Canada East. This organization lasted until the British North American Acts of 1867, when Upper Canada became Ontario and Lower Canada became Quebec, under the new Confederation of Canada.
2. I was unable to find death records of 3 of his sisters, but I was also not able to find any of them in the 1881 Canadian Census. One sister, Anathalie, most likely died before 1868 as her husband remarries in 1868. Another sister, Mary Magdalane, I did not find a marriage or any census records for, so I am assuming she died early. The last sister, Marguerite, was in the 1871 census, but I did not find her in the 1881 census.
3. I did not find any children for one of his daughters, Angelle, but the rest of his 7 children had many children of their own.
4. Twelve of the great grandchildren came from children of his daughter Scholastique and the other one from his son Pierre. He may have had more great grandchildren that I have not found from his many grandchildren.


to do:
1. find notary record of marriage for pierre labrecque and euphrosine blouin.  UPDATE : I found a research guide on marriage contracts from the Library and Archives Nationales du Quebec. I did a search on their database of marriage contracts and found that the notary who recorded his second marriage was Alexis Cote. I am amazed that this database exists and that I missed it before - how easy that was to find the notary. The library notes that the actual contract is available on microfilm, Centre d'archives de Québec, CN301, S69.
2. look at 1825 census for Lower Canada - for Pierre Labrecque (1876) who would have been married to Euphrosine and had two children by then. It is a head of household census only - microfilm 584017 at Family History Library. Not much new information would be provided outher than parish they lived in.
3.  look at 1831 census for Lower Canada - for Pierre Labrecque (1876) would have been married with five children.  This is also a head of household census - but provides much more information such as crops, farm animals, acerage, rent, etc. microfilm 1375926 at Family History Library.
4. look at 1842 census for Lower Canada - for Pierre Labrecque (1876) - also a head of household census - but provides information on land, etc. microfilm 1375931 at Family History Library - in catalog - states missing after Montmerency County.
5. find any notary records for probate or land transactions - look to see who was notary at Pierre's year of death on the Island - since there is a database for marriage contracts - start by searching for a marriage record on the island for the year 1879 and noting the notary. There are some databases on probates from the Library of Archives Quebec - but did not find a Pierre Labrecque on the island in the database. Not sure if the database covers the island, it covers only certain judicial districts. I think Ile D'Orleans is under the Quebec judicial district, which would mean it should be in the database though.

links:
1. previous blog post on Pierre's parents, Pierre Labrecque and Marie Godbout: also includes information on parish of St. Jean and information on finding notary records.

augusta ophelia tessier labrecque

French Canadian records are very prevalent and detailed, and best of all, available online at ancestry.com. This is great since I have an entire family line from Quebec. Augusta Ophelia Tessier was my immigrant ancestor from Quebec, along with her husband, Achilles Narcisse Labrecque. They are my great-great grandparents.

Augusta Ophelia was actually baptised Marie Fillion Augustine Tessier. In the book, French Canadian Sources, there is a chapter which discusses naming traditions in French Canada. The book explains that many parents baptised their daughters as Marie, which was later dropped by the child. There is also information on how priests wrote the names as they sounded and thought they should be spelled, so names may have changed in records depending on the priest. So Fillion probably became Ophelia and Augustin became Augusta. Maybe she liked Augusta better than Ophelia, and so went by her "middle" name when she was living in the United States. I do know I have the correct person as I follow Augusta through the records though, because the marriage record to Achilles lists her parents, and the year of birth matches throughout her records to the baptism of Marie Fillion Augustine Tessier.

Augusta was baptized at Notre-Dame de Quebec in the city of Quebec, Canada on April 17, 1859; the day after her birth. (This church was elevated to the level of basilica in 1874.) The physical church that Augusta was baptised in burned in 1922, a new one was built in its place. Some good websites on the history of the church are wikipedia's article on Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral, The Corporation of heritage and religious tourism of Québec, and The Official Website of the Basilica Cathedral Notre Dame De Quebec.

Augusta's parents are Augustine Honore Tessier and Marie Cecile Labbe, both also baptised in Quebec city. Most likely, Augusta Ophelia spent her childhood in Quebec city. (note 1) Augusta was the 4th of at least 9 children that I found in the Notre Dame de Quebec records born to Honore and Marie Tessier. Her father was a "gardien", or guard, and is listed as blind on the 1881 census.

At the age of 22, on May 9, 1881, Augusta married my great-great grandfather, Achilles Narcisse Labrecque at the Notre Dame De Quebec. I found their record of marriage in the parish record, but there also would have been a notary record created. I am not sure how to find which notary recorded their act of marriage, but as these records are cataloged by notary name I will not be able to find it unless I have a name. Otherwise I would have to browse through all the notaries in Quebec in 1881, which would be very time consuming. (found Notary - see: to do no. 3 at end)


signature of Augusta Tessier from parish marriage record

Two years later, in June of 1883, Augusta and Achilles had their first child, Corrine. They continued to have a total of at least 8 children; although the 1900 US census record states Augusta had 10 children, of which only 6 were alive in 1900. There does seem to be a large gap between their son George in 1888 and their next child Eugene in 1893, perhaps there were children born between them. (note 2)

Augusta was 28 years old when she came to Massachusetts with her husband and 3 children (at that time) in 1887. At this time at least three of her brothers had also immigrated to Boston, MA. Her younger sister Marie Louise would come to Boston three years later and her other brother George is also in Boston, not sure of the year. So at least 5 of her siblings are living close to her in Massachusetts. I did not find a record of her oldest sister, Marie Emilie, in Boston. I am guessing Marie Emilie probably stayed in Canada as she has a large family of at least 8 children by the 1911 Canadian Census. I also lost track of a younger sister, Marie Odile; the last record I found of her is her marriage in Quebec in 1886. Augusta's mother Marie is last seen in Quebec city in the 1881 Canadian Census; but Augusta's father Honore does have a death record in Boston in 1891. I am guessing that Honore came to Boston after his wife Marie died, maybe in Quebec (although I did not find her death record at Notre Dame de Quebec).


Residence of Augusta Ophelia (Tessier) Labrecque and siblings
as recorded in the 1900 US Federal Census

View Augusta Tessier Labrecque family 1900 in a larger map

Tragedy struck Augusta's family when her son Alfred, a Quincy councilman and my great grandfather, committed suicide in 1931. A couple of years ago I went to the Quincy Public Library to find information on the Labrecques. I was able to search through the name index the library has of the local Quincy newspaper, The Patriot Ledger. After visiting the library, I noted in my records that there was an article on Augusta Labrecque in the September 11, 1931 edition of the newspaper. I must have run out of time when visiting the library, as I never copied the article. So the other day I emailed the wonderful librarians at the Quincy Public Library and they sent me the article through email. (Thank you!!!) The article states that Augusta was so struck with grief from her son's death that she went into shock and then a coma. Augusta Ophelia Tessier Labrecque died only 12 days after her son died, on September 10, 1931. She was 72 years old. (Patriot Ledger, Sept 11, 1931 page 1, page 12)

I learned some other facts about Augusta from this Patriot Ledger article. The paper states that Augusta was at her Quincy home, but also entions a winter residence in Watertown, MA. Maybe they had both residences in Quincy and Watertown, which would explain why they seem to go back and forth from the two places in the town directories. The article also mentions Augusta's children; one of which, Eugene, is living in Canada. They also mention that she survives eight grandchildren.

I am not sure who provided the information for the article, but it was not exactly accurate with dates. The journalist wrote that Augusta and her husband were born on the same day, May 9, and were married on their 20th birthdays. Although this sounds romantic, it is not actually true according to their baptismal and marriage records. Augusta was born on April 16, 1859 and Achilles was born on May 7, 1859. They were married on May 9, 1881, when they were 22 years old. I am guessing they celebrated their birthdays and anniversary together, which resulted in the confusion of dates for the article.

Augusta was buried at Mt. Wollaston Cemetery, the same cemetery as her son, Alfred. Her husband Achilles and two of her daughters (never married) were also later buried at the cemetery, sharing a headstone. I am not sure where her two children that died in childhood are buried, Bertha and George. They died while they were living in Boston, perhaps they are buried with other family that also died around this time in Boston. Augusta's father Honore and brother George both died in Boston (1891 and 1898) and are probably buried in Boston; but the location is not stated on their records from newenglandancestors.org. Augusta's other brother, Arthur, is buried at Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston; maybe they are all together there.

Headstone of Augusta Tessier Labrecque and husband and two of her daughters

notes:
1. I found her family in the 1881 Canadian census in the subdistrict of Palais Ward of district no. 79, Quebec Center, Quebec City. I am not sure yet how to figure out where on a map this district is located.
2. I did not find any other birth records for children of Augusta in MA, as she was living in MA after 1888.

to do:
1. find cemetery of Augusta's children - Bertha and George - and her father Honore - all died in Boston.
2. find mother's death date and location - did she ever come to Boston?
3. find notary record of marriage for Augusta and Achilles. I wrote a bit about finding notary records in another blog post. UPDATE : notary Joseph-Alphonse-Elzéar Chaperon- at Libray and Archives Canada microfilm CN301, S299.

anders andersson (update)

I have been meaning to look at the household examination records on SVAR, the databases of the Swedish National Archives, to see if they made available online later years for Blidsberg. As I noted in my last blog post on Anders Andersson, Jeff's 3rd great grandfather, I was only able to find him in these records up to 1883 in Brunn, as Ancestry and Genline only had up to that year in their household examination records. I finally checked SVAR (you need to activate at least a 3 hour subscription on SVAR, so I was waiting until I knew I had at least a couple of hours in a row free). I was in luck, their household examination records for Blidsberg and Humla went up to 1900. Maybe now I would be able to find Anders' death date, as this would be listed in the household record if he died during his residence in one of the parishes.

I was not sure where to start to find Anders, as I did not know which village or farm within Blidsberg he had moved to. Sometimes you can find the village name if you find them in the "moving out" or "moving in" records, but these were not available online for the year 1883 for these parishes. My only choice was to start browsing through the pages of the household examination records for Blidsberg 1880-1900. Luckily I found them very quickly, on page 5, living in the location of "Sluntom" in Blidsberg. Their son, Frans Wilhem, soldier, and his wife are living in the same village or farm of Sluntom, listed right below Anders on the record. The record shows that Frans was living in Blidsberg with his parents until 1890, then they all moved to Humla for a short time, and Frans alone moved back to Sluntom, Blidsberg with his wife. Anders and Maja stayed in Humla after they moved there from Blidsberg in 1890.

When Anders moves to Humla in 1890, he is 65 years old. Anders and Maja were easy to find in the Humla household record as the page number was noted on the Blidsberg record when they left. They are found on page 96, living in the village of Storemberg? (difficult to read) A death date is given for Maja of November in 1898. Soon after, in 1899 at the age of 74, Anders leaves this village for another one in Humla, Odegard. Anders only lives without his wife for another year and a half, as I found his death record in Humla on May 18, 1900. He was 75 years old.

I wrote a little bit about the churches in Humla and Blidsberg in my last post. The church in Blidsberg was built in 1868. Since Anders moved back to Blidsberg in 1883, living there for 7 years, he and his wife would have attended the church that was built and is still standing today.

picture by Daniel E on kyrkokartan.se website

Since Anders also lived in Humla for the last 10 years of his life, he would have attended the new church there as well, built in the 1880s. I am guessing he also would have been buried here with his wife who also died in Humla. I do not know much about the burial customs in Sweden, but I think everyone was buried in the Church graveyard. I would assume this would get pretty crowded quickly, so I wonder if everyone gets a stone, or how they manage the amount of burials. Humla is not a very populated parish though, with only about 2-4 burials a year at that time; so perhaps this was not much of a problem.

picture by Ake Fagerlund on kyrkokartan.se website

Since I now know that Anders is living during the 1890 census, I checked it again to see if I could find him. This time I just did a search for Anders with a birth date of 1825, leaving out the parish of birth. I am actually not sure why I did not do this before, I guess I did not have as much confidence that he was living at this time and gave up too quickly. Anyway, he was listed in Humla with his wife Maja, with a birth place of Humla (which is incorrect). He was not listed in the 1900 census though; he must have died before it was taken. He was alive however to see his daughter Emma off to America in 1892. For some reason it makes me happy to think he knew about this big change in one of his children's lives. I have not found any other evidence that any of his other children moved to America. Two of his sons became soldiers and his other daughter married a soldier. Perhaps they felt an attachment to Sweden being in the military. The oldest son Johan was not a soldier, but was at least living in Blidsberg by 1891 according to the household examination records. (I did not find Anders' son Johan in the 1900 census).

anders anderson

Anders is my husband's, Jeff, 3rd great grandfather. The Swedish naming tradition was to add "son" or "dotter" to their father's first name to create their last name, so Anders' father was Anders Pettersson, and Anders full name is Anders Andersson. Anders' mother's name was Lisa Svensdotter (daughter of Sven). Married women kept their family names throughout their lives. Since Anders has such a common name, I have to make sure I have the right Anders Andersson in the records I find. Fortunately, the Swedish records provide birth dates in most of their records, which makes it much easier to distinguish between two people with the same name, even in the same area.

Anders was born April 26, 1825 in Blidsberg, Sweden, where he spent his childhood with his family until he was 27 years old. He was the second to youngest (youngest boy) of five, with only one sister who was 10 years younger than he. He never knew his oldest brother Johannes, as he died when he almost one year old. On the Household Examination records, Anders is found living with his family at Åslyckan, Blidsberg, Sweden. (During the period of 1827-1828, his family is listed at Västra Alarp in Blidsberg.) These two locations within Blidsberg are most likely farm names, where families lived and worked. The Household Examination records are great records to find your families in Sweden, as you can really pinpoint the location of your ancestor on old and current maps of Sweden (note 1).  The archives of the National Surveying Office's website lantmateriet, has historical maps of Sweden with farm and village names within the parishes.  I wrote about this website in another post.  After looking at the historical Blidsberg map, I was able to locate the current location of the two farms Anders grew up on using Google maps, as shown below.


Map of Blidsberg, Sweden
Anders childhood homeland (1825-1852)
left arrow is Åslyckan, right arrow Västra Alarp
View Blidsberg, Sweden in a larger map

One thing that sticks out for me after looking at the current satellite maps from Google is the lack of houses on the farms, usually only having one house on a large area of farm land. Sometimes there are more than one family listed on the farms in the household examination records, which probably meant more than one family was living together in the same houses. I wonder what the houses were like. I believe that many of the farmers were tenant farmers, leasing land and house from the owner of the farm land. There is a great article on the Federation of Swedish Genealogical Societies' websiteTraceing Your Swedish Roots, under the "Life in Old Sweden" section. The article is titled Torp and Torpare - An Analysis by Nils William Olsson, which discusses the evolution of the "topare" in Sweden; giving insight into what life may have been like for Anders. I am not sure if records exist for who owned the farm land that Jeff's ancestors lived and worked on. Maybe this information can be found on tax lists, as explained on Tracing Your Swedish Roots website, under the tax records section.

Blidsberg seems to be a fairly small rural area in Southern Sweden. At the time Anders lived here, Blidsberg was part of Alvsborg County. I could not find any books on google or worldcat.org on the history of Blidsberg, Sweden, so I did not find much information on the parish. There is a book at the Family Search Centers, Min barndoms Blidsberg på 1880-talet, about the history of Blidsberg parish in the 1880s, but it is written in Swedish, so probably would not be that useful to me, but maybe it contains some pictures.

I am always interested in the churches that our ancestors attended, as sometimes the church is still standing and it is great to get a glimpse of any part of our ancestor’s lives. Anders lived only about 1 mile from his Lutheran church in Blidsberg. There is a beautiful picture of the Blidsberg Kyrka (church) on the photo website Panoramio taken by Sture Björnson, here. I was not sure this church was the same church that was standing when Anders was alive, so I searched a bit more to see when it was built. I looked for Blidsberg in the LIBRIS catalog of the National Archives of Sweden and found the following book, translated title, Blidberg old and new church: a short history: [100 anniversary 1870-1970, which of course is written in Swedish, not much help to me. I love that the LIBRIS catalog has a link to search Google and Google Books using relavent search terms. (I did not have much success finding links by searching Google independently – perhaps because of the different language). After clicking on these links, I came across an informative website and more pictures of the church at Blidsberg, on kyrkokartan.se. According to this website, the church currently standing in Blidsberg is not the church that Anders grew up attending, as it seems to have been built in 1868, by which time he was living in the parish of Humla.

Anders was 27 in 1852, when he left Blidsberg for Humla, with his new wife, Maja Lena Petersdotter. They did not travel far, as Humla is only one parish North of Blidsberg. Anders and his family lived for about 15 years at Sodra Torpet in Humla, having five children there. They moved within the parish of Humla after 1867, first to the farm Mellomakoyen until 1872, then to the farm Gunnarp until 1875, then to Nickabo until 1879. The farm of Nickabo also has his son, Alfrid, listed above him as a "soldat", or soldier. Soldiers lived in certain areas of the town, and were supported by the town (note 2). Perhaps when Anders son Alfrid became a soldier, they moved to this area with him.


Map of Humla, Sweden
farm locations for Anders Andersson and family 1852-1879

View Humla kyrka in a larger map

Much of Anders adult life was spent in Humla, so I decided to do the same search in LIBRIS for the church in Humla, and found the following book in their catalog, Humla Church, written in 1984. I again clicked on the Google link to search for webpages about the church and found the following, also on kyrkokartan.se. Another good website on the history of the church at Humla is here. This website states that the church standing now at Humla was built in the 1880s. Since Anders left Humla in 1880, it was not the church that Anders would have attended. Anders probably would have seen the new church though, as his children were still living in this area at that time. The website also states that the church that was previously at Humla, the one Anders would have attended, was actually from the 1100s. I would have loved to have seen what that church was like. I did also find a little bit of general history on the village of Humla on the website of Farfars Handelsbod (Grandpa Handelsbod).

In 1880, at the age of 55, Anders and his wife left Humla, where they are found in the 1880 Census in Brunn, with their youngest son, Frans Wilhelm. In the census, Anders' occupation is "arrendator", a tenant farmer or leaseholder. This is most likely Anders occupation through out his life. Brunn is about 14 miles south of Humla, closer to the city of Ulriceham. I am not sure why they would move to this area after being in Humla for 27 years, especially since most of their children were still living in Humla and Blidsberg with their families. The only connection I have found is that his younger sister, Helena Kristina Andersdotter, is living in Brunn with her husband and children during the 1880 census. The houshold examination for Brunn has Anders on the farm of Bjorkelund until 1883. While searching on the internet for information about this area, I came across Ulricehamns Kommun's website with an interesting page on the natural history of the Ulriceham area, which gives much history of the land.

The Brunn household examination shows that Anders and Maja left Brunn in 1883 to Blidsberg, the parish he grew up in. I have lost track of them after this move. The household examination records and "moving out" records on ancestry.com and Swedish Genline end here for all the towns I have mentioned, so I was not able to find where in Blidsberg Anders and Maja were living. (note 3)

The 1890 census on SVAR only lists one Anders Andersson (Anders Petter Andersson) born in 1825 in Blidsberg, living in Orebro parish of the county Orebro, as a widow. I did not find a Maja Petersson in the 1890 census. I am not sure if this Anders is the correct one, but Orebro is 129 miles north of Blidsberg. This seems like a long distance to travel to find work. To narrow down who this Anders Petter Andersson is, I checked the birth records in Blidsberg 1825 to see if there was another Anders Andersson born in Blidsberg that year. There actually was another Anders born that year in Blidsberg, with a middle name of Petter. This most likely is the Anders living in Orebro in 1890, not my husband's ancestor.

Since I did not find Anders in the 1890 or 1900 Swedish Censuses, I think he probably died between 1883 and 1890. I searched through the Brunn, Blidsberg and Humla death records up to 1897 but was unable to find a record of either Anders or Maja's death. I know that his daughter, Emma, moved to America in 1892, I wonder if he knew this before he passed and what he thought of one of his children leaving Sweden. (UPDATE : see next post about death of Anders)

notes :
1. Household examination records for Sweden can be found online with a subscription on Genline and Ancestry.  You need to know the parish your ancestor was from in order to use these records.  These records were kept for each family in a parish for the purpose recording their knowledge of catechism each year. The records allow you to follow your ancestors through moving within farms and in and out of parishes.
2. Information on soldiers in Sweden from the book: Clemensson, Per, and Kjell Andersson. Your Swedish Roots: A Step by Step Handbook. Provo, UT: Ancestry, 2004.
3. I believe later household examination records for these areas are available at the provincial Archives of Landsarkivet i Göteborg under the National Archives of Sweden, Riksarkivet, in Sweden; as long as the records are 70 years or older.(UPDATE : see next post)

to do :
1. Look at the legal records of the time kept at the judicial district level. The judicial district for Brunn, Blidsberg and Humla is Redväg. The Family Search centers do have microfilm available for this distrcit, but do not seem to go past the year 1860. Some of these records available at the Family Search Center for this district also include land divisions, mortgages, and criminal records, so it would be worth looking through in case Anders or his family is mentioned.
2. Find tax records for the land and farms Anders lived and worked on.
3.   Find Swedish records after 1883 to locate where Anders Andersson and his wife Maja were living in Blidsberg (Household Examinations at archives, provincial Archives of Landsarkivet i Göteborg, or National Archives of Sweden, Riksarkivet). (UPDATE : found 1880-1900 household examination records for Humla and Blidsberg on SVAR - see next post)
4. Find where and when Anders Andersson died. The National Swedsh Archives, Riksarkivet, has the following (as noted on the Archives Section of the Swedish Roots Website):
"Copies of all birth, death and marriage records from 1860, copies of the clerical surveys for every 10 years from 1860, and also copies of church records from all Sweden are kept in the microfiche reading room, which moved in 1998 to the new facilities at Arninge, just north of Stockholm (see info below). The microfiche are available up to 1930, due to the 70 year secrecy law." (UPDATE : found death dates for Anders and Maja - see next post)
5.  See if any other of Anders' children, or Anders himself, went to America as their daughter Emma did in 1892 with her husband (Jeff's great great grandparents). (UPDATE : found some more information on children - see next post)


books on topic:
1. translated title: Ulricehamns municipality. D. 2, Blidberg, Dalum, Humla, Kölaby and Timmele parishes and Ulricehmans city of Brunn and Vist former parishes

freeman french

Freeman French is one of those ancestors that would have been nice to find a diary of his daily life. (actually, finding one for every ancestor would be nice too). Freeman lived during an interesting time in American history; I would love to know what he thought about everything going on around him at this time.

Freeman is my 4th great grandfather. He was born April 24, 1801 in Hingham, MA to Nathaniel French and Sarah Chubbuck. He seems to have grown up in South Hingham, where he was the middle child, having two older brothers and two younger sisters. His father was a packetman working at the Hingham packet station in Boston. (note 1)

Freeman was about 24 years old when he had his first son, Henry Freeman French in September of 1825, still living in Hingham. The date is interesting, as he did not marry Joanna until December of 1826, again in Hingham. If these dates are correct, I am sure it was difficult to have a child before marriage. It is nice to see that they stuck it out together though, and continued to have a large family of at least 8 children.

Freeman and his family lived in Hingham until at least 1830, when he is located in the census in Abington. By 1841, when he and his wife Joanna had their 5th child, Lydia, he had moved his family to South Scituate. Maybe he was struggling to find a place of their own, moving from Hingham to Abington to South Scituate. They seem to have settled in South Scituate, which eventually became Norwell in 1888. South Scituate is very close to South Hingham, where he grew up. Maybe he felt the need to be closer to his mother as she was getting older. Freeman's father died in 1819, but it looks like his mother died in April of 1843 (note 2).

Freeman not only moved his family a couple of times, but he also had a couple of professions; changing back and forth between shoemaker and farm laborer (note 3). I am not sure how common this was, but it does seem strange to me that he did not have a consistent profession. His property value as listed in the censuses is usually lower than others around him; it does seem they may have struggled a bit. He still supported his children though, even after they were married and had children of their own. The 1850 census shows his daughter, Joanna, and her husband and child living with them. Also in 1850, his son Henry and his wife are living with them. Their son Benjamin is still living with them at the age of 36 in the 1880 census. Freeman also opened his house to someone outside of his family in 1880. In the census there is a John Gurney, a 27 year old shoe finisher, living with them. Maybe he was a boarder to bring in a little extra money, or maybe Freeman was just helping him out. Regardless, the household never seems to be a lonely one. I tend to think of Freeman as a welcoming and friendly man; a happy person even though he may have been struggling a little financially.

Since Freeman is listed in the 1880 Census as living in South Scituate, I looked up the historical land ownership map on ancestry for this area. I found him near Accord Pond, bordering the town of Rockland.




Freeman was alive during many changes in American history. Around the 1830's in Massachusetts, there was a stirring of feelings rising against slavery. In 1831, The first abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, was published in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison. Freeman's daughter, Lydia (my 3rd great-grandmother), actually married into a family, the Cowings, which had ties to the abolitionists and Garrison (note 4). Perhaps it was a philosophy also held by the French Family. Freeman was about 59 years old when the Civil War broke out, therefore he did not fight in the war. His family, as most Massachusetts families, supported the cause though with at least one of his sons, Benjamin, enlisting at the age of 18, with the 39th regiment. Benjamin received a disability discharge only a couple of months after enlisting in 1862, and applied for a pension in 1885 (note 5). Freeman also had three nephews give their lives in the Civil War, 2 as prisoners. (note 6)

Technology was also changing the world; especially in 1876, with Alexander Graham Bell demonstrating the first telephone in Boston. I do not know if Freeman actually ever saw a telephone before he died, but he most likely did not have one in his home. I wonder what he thought about the invention and all the changes that were occurring during his lifetime.

Freeman lived 88 years, dying on March 2, 1889 in Norwell, about 2 years after his wife Joanna died. During his life, he was probably close to his children, as they did not move far from home. He unfortunately had to see three of his daughters die in their 20s; some of them had children of their own. He was fortunate enough to know at least 12 grandchildren; unfortunate to have 4 of these grandchildren die; 3 in infancy, one at the age of 10.

I wrote a blog post about Freeman's wife Joanna, noting that they were probably buried at the Liberty Plains Cemetery in South Hingham as that was the closest cemetery to their home. I did finally get a chance to go to Liberty Plain Cemetery. Luckily it was not too large to walk through, and I was able to find the gravestones of both Freeman and his wife. The three daughters that died at young ages; Sarah, Mary, and Pamelia, are buried near them. I was happy to find them all together.



notes:
1. Bouvé, Thomas T, Edward T. Bouvé, John D. Long, Walter L. Bouvé, Francis H. Lincoln, George Lincoln, Edmund Hersey, Fearing Burr, and Charles W. S. Seymour. History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts. Hingham: Pub. by the town, 1893. (vol 2; page 237)
2. death date for a sarah french, aged 74, in 1843 in south hingham - matches approximate birth date of sarah chubbuck (freeman's mother)
3. 1840 - agriculture; 1850 - shoemaker; 1860 - farm laborer; 1870 - shoemaker; 1880 - past laborer
4. Lydia's husband's great aunts (Susan, Sarah and Maria Cowing) had involvement in the abolitionist movement - wrote about them in a post here.
5. Benjamin W. French. Historical Data Systems, comp.. American Civil War Soldiers [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.
6. Freeman's brother Nathaniel had three sons that died in the civil war, Nathaniel, Henry and Charles, the latter two as prisoners. Information from The History of Hingham book from note 1, (vol. 2, page 238)

to do list:
1. any probate records for father Nathaniel or mother Sarah? probate for Freeman? (UPDATE: Plymouth County Probate is online at familysearch - none listed for Freeman or his mother Sarah; probate for wife Joanna written about here, and father Nathaniel will be posted soon.)
2. any land records for Nathaniel, Sarah and Freeman