Swendenburg?

Question

Hey! I've been working on a work friend's genealogy and am at a road block with this particular person. I can't find much beyond what is sourced. I figured this is a name possibly chosen once they landed in America but I don't know.

Thanks in advance!

Charlotte

Answer 1

Well, his first name in Sweden would most likely been Svante which became Swonte.

However, Swedenburg might be a "taken name", many changed their names when settling in US. There needs to be more research done on "your end" first I'm afraid. According to the database Emiweb there are more than 200 persons named Svante born between 1840-1850 who emigrated before 1891. There are 17 persons emigrating with last name Svedenborg but none of them is named Svante.

Add all different birth dates and emigration years for Svante mentioned in different Census to the profile, if any of them matches an emigrant exactly it might be a lead. Also check the childrens birth notices if there can be any information on them about another last name.

Does the wedding notice mention his parents? SInce it is on Ancestry I can't see it, perhaps its available on FamilySearch as well? We simply need more to work on if we should be of any help with the Swedish part.

Edited to add...

There is a place in Örebro called Svedenborg, perhaps that is where he took his name from? It just might be a clue, unfortunately I have be off, have an appointment time to keep.

Comments

Marriage record is at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BF-WSBY-W?i=346. Does not list parents, and gives birthplace merely as "Sweden", but does give him middle name of "Aalla" (which, from other records, in particular the city directory listings of his widow in Evansville in the 1930s, was "Ole"). Perhaps he was a Svante Olsson?

Also see my separate answer below on his Declaration of Intention to Become U.S. Citizen, which lists birthplace of Landskrona, exact birthdate, and emigration date of summer 1873. Are the parish records for Landskrona online somewhere? Given that he lived in Copenhagen before going to the U.S., his emigration record from Sweden should probably have Denmark rather than U.S. as destination and be dated sometime before 1873.

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You can search for Landskrona here: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/kyrkoarkiv

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In the marriage record, it states it is his second marriage and he is 36 years old in 1888, which would give birth year 1852.

In the naturalisation paper it says he was born October 1843.

The grave stone says he was born 1846.

You see why it would be hard to find him in the Swedish records when we dont anything more precise to go on...

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The censuses I found at familysearch also gives different birthyears, as well as immigration years...

US Census 1900: Age 60, birthdate Oct 1839,  immigrated 1880 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M99Z-GKZ

US Census 1910: Age 66, immigrated 1885 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRVR-34?i=10&cc=1727033&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMKRM-PYS

US Census 1920, Age 75, immigr. 1873 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR6D-SQN?i=3&cc=1488411&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMF41-69M 

This is the link to Massachusetts, Index to Boston Passenger Lists, 1848-1891, that is the port he should arrived at according to his naturalisation paper

 https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?q.givenName=svante&q.birthLikePlace=sweden&q.birthLikeDate.from=1839&q.birthLikeDate.to=1852&f.collectionId=2304666&count=75&offset=0&m.defaultFacets=on&m.queryRequireDefault=on&m.facetNestCollectionInCategory=on

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I have spent quite some time searching for him in the ArkivDigital index, in vain.

I have been using his given names Svante (or Swante) and Ola (or Olof). Svante is not as overwhelmingly common as Olof, so one would think he'd turn up.

I have searched for him with birth place Landskrona - which could also mean one of the surrounding parishes of Landskrona town - so I ended up searching for him in the whole of Malmöhus county.

I have searched for him in the birth year range 1840 to 1853. There are a few Svante in Malmöhus, but they stayed in Sweden and married here.

Before I checked the whole range of years I went through a search year by year checking for Svante or Swante born in Malmöhus in October.

I have assumed that Swedenborg was taken when he immigrated - but I just did a quick check for a few variants of the surname and the birth year range to make sure.

I don't know what to think. Searching for "Swante" at FamilySearch also turns up a lot of Swen. Who knows, he may have changed his given name as well Over There. And Sven is a LOT more common in Sweden than Svante.

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I did some searching at Arkiv Digital as well without coming up with anything matching.

Charlotte, even if I see you have already orphaned the profile you might want to edit the profile to add all the sources and links people found and added to this thread?

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Never mind, I have added the info from this thread to the orphaned profile.

Answer 2

The Declaration of Intention to become a U.S. Citizen that is included in the findagrave.com memorial for him, which he completed 7 October 1918, states that he was born 21 October 1843 in Landskrona, Sweden (which is about 15 miles east of Copenhagen, Denmark); that his last residence in Europe was Copenhagen, and that he emigrated from there, arriving in Boston in June 1873.

Comments

He was in his seventies when he filed that, and (not surprisingly) did not remember the name of the ship he came on.

He may also have misremembered some digit in his birth date - the headstone claims he was born in 1846.

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A Svante Anton Rosendahl born in Ystad 1845-09-21 could be something to investigate. Last whereabouts "unknown".

https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0067482_00080

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True. I saw him yesterday, forgot him today.
If he went missing in 1865 he may have gone to Denmark.

But I think it will be next to impossible to provide a convincing argument that Svante Anton Rosendahl born in Ystad 1845-09-21 is identical to Swonty Ole Swedenborg, claiming to be born in Landskrona 1843-10-21.

Edited to add that Ystad is not all that close to Landskrona - I wouldn't think they're close enough for somebody born in that area to mix them up in memory. Unless they are intentionally muddying the waters.

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Yes. I just thought that it could be interesting, because I have seen several emigrants where the recorded "birth-place" is just the port of emigration.

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Port of emigration or general area of birth - when it's not just "Sweden". Well, one does find a recognizable parish name in the applications for US citizenship now and then.

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Yes... 

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When I got home yesterday I did some more searches at emiweb, a broad search for Malmöhus and I also tried Ola, Olle and Allan if that could be the "Swedish name" for Aalla which he signed with (on the US citicen application I think it was).

No results worth investigating even...