Can someone read this Letter Edged In Black please
Debra	Hi again, I was wondering if anyone could help me with this--in looking through Mom's stuff my sister and I found this letter edged in black written in either Swedish or Norwegian. I am not sure if anything will help me with the family on this but I was wondering if anyone could help me make out what it says and in which language it is as my grandmother came from Norway and grandfather came from Sweden. Grandfather went by John A. Anderson here in the US and grandmother went by Ingeborg (Inga) Nelson before she married grandfather. Please try to read as much as possible and I know I haven't done it correctly but it is as close as I could do with what I know. Thanks. (a long word I couldn't try to put down in English) gud i sitt clluisa rad vehagat hadankalb mih alskade make UNDANTAGSMANNEN ANDERS JOHAN NILSSON som stilla ailed SODRA RUNSTEN ONSDAGEN DEN 25 Dec 1912 i en alder af 71 ar 2 manader och 25 olager oli upt sarjd och saknad af mgh barn, barnbarn ocl broder samt slakt ocl vanner. Johanna Nilsson I know the above isn't done correctly but if something can be read from it I may know more as far as names. We thought it was from Grandma (maybe her father's death certificate or something?) but every name of Nilsson I look up is from Sweden so now am wondering if this is from Grandfather's side (he came from Sweden). I am hoping this will give us a clue as to the last name of one of them before they came to America. I am also hoping this can help find some other of the family over there (in either Sweden or Norway). Maybe this death notice will help find someone? Thanks for any help you can offer, Debra
Borge	The first line is something about Anders being in the company of God. It is all about the death of Johanna Nilsson's husband Anders Johan Nilsson, who died December 25th, 1912 at the age of 71 years, 2 months and 25 days - he will be deeply missed by his wife, children, grandchildren, brother and other relatives and friends.
jwiborg	Hi, the language is swedish. Translation, word-by-word: Undantagsmannen would in norw. be "føderaadsmann". The title describes an [old] man who lives on a "surrendered" property, normally overtaken by the oldest son or daughter [son in law]. min älskade make - my belowed husband Södra Runsten - An area on the swedish island "Öland", situated on the south east coast [outside the city of Kalmar]. onsdagen - wednesday djupt sörjd och saknad - deeply mourn and missed släkt och vänner - family and friends Jan
Debra	Thank you very much. So this must be my grandfather's father who died. So his (grandpa) name wasn't Anderson in Sweden but Nilsson. I know this is a Norwegian site but will this information help me to look up my grandfather's family as far as (their names I have from this letter) their birth, my grandfather's birthplace etc etc. I am sort of confused as as far as I ever heard he only had one sister who was here in America (not sure if she came over with him or not) and Mom said he had one brother who died while he was young. From what was translated above, I am wondering who this other sibling was? Thanks for any information and especially thanks for translating the letter. That was neat and speacial to me and my family. Debra
jwiborg	Hi again. the naming traditions in Scandinavia in those days was that the last name was made up of father's first name +son (or +daughter if female). So Anders Nilsons sons would have a last name of Andersson (or Anderson). Swedish spelling are "-son" & "-dotter", norwegian are "-sen" & "-datter". So yes, without knowing your family, I would say that Anders Johan & Johanna Nilsson must be John Anderson's parents. Anders Johan is born ca 30 SEP 1841, and looks to be living in the "Södra Runsten" are on the island "Öland", in Kalmars län [Kalmar county], Sweden. Johanna Nilsson says that Anders Nilson will be deeply missed by "mgh barn, barnbarn ocl broder samt slakt ocl vanner" I assume the letter reads "mig, barn, barnbarn och broder samt släkt och vänner" That would be translated into "me, children, grand children and brother incl family and friends." The brother in this sentence must be the deceased's brother, ie. John Anderson's uncle. Jan
Debra	Wow, thanks so much all of you. This is the first information that I have found other than US stuff so far. I wanted to find Grandmother's stuff and knew this site would be great but you are helping me so much with the Sweden part too, thanks. Can anyone tell me of a site that would help me find out more about the family from what there is here? Like more about my Great grandparents (Anders and Johanna, like what they did, their parents, where and when Johanna was born, maiden name etc?). Also I would like to find out more about Grandpa and his family, like where he was born (maybe where they were living?) some records about him, how many siblings for sure and who came to the US and when? This is really getting exciting. By the way, I have found the Halstad family and have talked personally with the grandchildren of Ole and Anna. Ole Halstad was married to THREE Anne and Annas, my Great Aunt being the last one. I am going in many directions but my sister and I are so excited about it and yet so sad that we never knew them. Debra
jwiborg	Hi, I'm not sure about how to proceed in Sweden... [:)] Some swedish censuses are online, but the one for Kalmar county looks to be a pay-site, and cost approx US$ 5.00 for s hour usage... [B)] Here are some links: [url="http://genforum.genealogy.com/sweden/"]http://genforum.genealogy.com/sweden/[/url] [url="http://www.cyndislist.com/sweden.htm"]http://www.cyndislist.com/sweden.htm[/url] [url="http://www.foark.umu.se/folk/"]swedish 1890-cenus[/url] [url="http://www.arkion.se/"]various swedish censuses[/url] If you're used to the Norwegian [url="http://digitalarkivet.no/"]Digitalarkivet[/url], the swedish sites are difficult to follow, terrible!! [}:)] But try the forum on genealogy.com. Jan
Berta	Debra! This site is quite good: http://genealogi.aland.net/discus/ You can probably post your initial post somewhere under "Discussions in English", and maybe somone will help you further on?
Debra	Thank you for the information. I did post on that site but put it in the wrong place, mostly because I couldn't read most of it and found a topic that looked close to what I was looking for (census). I actually got lots of information (but majority of people who read that site maybe never saw my query) and have went back a couple of generations on Grandfather's side because of the help there, mostly started with the letter edged in black here translation! It gave me the area and Gr Grandfather and Gr Grandmother's name which really helped. It was so exciting. Now I am trying to even put more together as far as family there. Now if I could only get going on Grandmother's side, it is so sad I don't know more about her and her family and most people are gone already that knew her. I sure hope I can keep finding bits and pieces to put her family together. Deb