Reg assignment #7

Religion C 261 - Sister Kelly Summers

Assignment #7 - Locality – 40 pts

Select one locality where your ancestor lived. Report important information about your chosen locality, including history and significant dates. If you are researching someplace outside the U.S. locate the Blue Reference binders at the BYU FHL (These are also in pdf format on the HBLL Family History Library website: http://www.lib.byu.edu/sites/familyhistory/).

The following resources are available for U.S. research:

The Handy Book for Genealogists – county map, genealogical & historical societies and trail maps are in the back of the book.

Ancestry’s Red Book – county map, genealogical & historical societies.

USGenWeb.com

All Countries use:

Wiki.FamilySearch.org

Other Resources:
Google.com
Cyndislist.com
WorldGenWeb.com

Include printout of relevant pages (timelines)
Print out a map of the area

1 - Submit a written summary of what you learned about the locality including history or geographic conditions that would influence the locality. Briefly describe the history of the state and county or province and country you have chosen. Include such information as when it became a state, and when the specific county was formed. Or in the case of a country, dates of independence, etc. Include a list of possible resources such as 2 genealogical or historical societies with URL or address in the area. Include a state/county map. (This report should be no more than 2 pages in length).

2 – Submit a Research Log
At first I thought a timeline would show me what was going on in Sweden during 1857, the year Carl Carlquist was born. The timelines were too much of the “Long” term history of Sweden but not the time for the family that I have been researching. On the website www.facts-about.org.uk I found several timelines for various countries. First I looked at the Swedish timeline and then followed the suggestion from the website to look at the Vikings time line, because the Vikings were Scandinavian. The Viking Timeline was from 793 to 1050. Although there was not much information on the actual lifestyle of the Vikings I could not help but to think if my ancestors were Vikings, and if not what did they think of Vikings. In 1397 the union of Kalmar united Denmark, Sweden and Norway under a single monarchy, but in 1523 Gustav the first re-established Swedish rule.
Then I thought that I would change my search to “Sweden 1857”, or “Sweden lifestyle in 1857”. This was a difficult search, because most of the information that came up had nothing to do with Sweden but with other parts of the world. I read an entire article called “3 Lucky Swedes”. It was about 3 Swedish men who left the poverty in Sweden to join the Alaskan Gold Rush. I thought that this would be a good article to read because the men in this article were born during the same time as Carl. My hope was that their lifestyle, and chlanges would be similar this his own. John Brynteson had a minimal education, which was more than most could calaim in those days. This bite of information interested me, and I read through a few pages of my own family history and discovered that Carl was mostly self-taught.
John Brynteson (one of the men from the article) grew up on a family farm. I wanted to know what Carl’s family did for a living. The family legend goes that Carl was an illegitimate son to the king, because he looked so much like the king and he was born illegitimately. I don’t know if he was the son of the king, but I do know his mother’s full name. In my perfect plan I could follow his mother’s family line.
I thought that if I could find the city that they were from I could do a little research to know if it was a rural or town style community. I tried to find the city that Carl was born in… there were three options. I thought that this would not hinder my work, but when I tried to match the contemporary cities with the historic cities I had a hard time. The map proportions were off, and I cannot read Swedish.
The second man in the article was named Jafet Lindeberg. His family was a family of farmers, fisherman, and nomadic reindeer herders. I had never even thought of a reindeer herder being a possible occupation for my ancestors. He also worked as a miner. Jafet Lindeberg was considered highly educated by a private teacher (from the sound of the story) but the focus of his education was language. I thought about how little science and mathematics were taught at that time, and wondered if Carl knew more than basic mathematics.
Erik O. Lindblom was the third man in the article. His father was a schoolteacher, but after his father’s death his mother became a beggar. I realized that Erik O. Lindblom would have had a similar childhood as Carl’s. I am sure that without the support of a husband his mother had to beg to feed Carl. Eventually she did marry, but her husband died leaving her to support Carl, and two other children. I tried to find out if Carl’s mother had any family support. In his early, early, early years Carl lived with another family, but I am not sure if the family he lived with was actually a relatives.
I think that the most helpful information was reading about the lives of the “2 Lucky Swedes”. This was helpful because it gave me ideas about what Sweden was like for other people who were living at the same time as my ancestors. After reading about their life experiences I was able to create a crude image of what my ancestor’s life experiences would have been like. It also sharpened my curiosity because I want to know more about the actual lives of my ancestors and not simply their names and dates.