The Wessman Home in Göteborg

If you were to visit today, this is the Swedish neighborhood where the Wessman family lived in the 1880s through the 1890s. It appears to have been greatly gentrified.

The Swedish Household Examination Books are an excellent genealogical source. Here is the page for the Wessmans. Their entry begins on the top line.

Here is the first part of the entry for the family.

It lists each member of the family with names, exact birth and marriage dates, whether they'd been vaccinated for smallpox (everyone but the baby), and their religious status.

Amanda and Johan Wessman and baby.

Officials updated the entry yearly. This is the second page showing the name of the neighborhood on the top, Skolgatan 13 and Nygatan 23 (see that corner in the Google Streetview above).

It records their previous residence. If I'm reading it right, they moved within the city to their current location on November 5, 1884. The last columns show Johan moving to a different location and Amanda and the rest of the family moving to America.

"Sweden, Household Examination Books, 1880-1930," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLP2-T36M : 5 April 2019), Johan Westman, from 1885 to 1895; from "Sweden Household Examination Books, 1860-1920," database and images, MyHeritage(https://www.myheritage.com : n.d.); citing from 1885 to 1895, 12842981, Haga AI 6, various Lutheran parishes, Sweden.

Walking in Their Footsteps: The Wessmans at Ellis Island

A few days ago I stepped off the ferry onto Ellis Island and walked up the path to the immigration building. I'd been there before, so I was surprised by the emotion that overtook me as I walked the path taken by my grandfather's father, Henry Wessman, in July 1893 and Henry's parents, Amanda Hall Wessman later in 1893, and Johan Bengtsson Wessman three years after that. 

Amanda was about my age when she left Sweden for America with her four-year-old son Joseph. She had already sent her daughters Fanny and Bertha and her sons John and Henry ahead. 

John shared the following memory of the trip. 

July 1st 1893, I and my brother Henry left Sweden for America. My father took us to Copenhagen. We were there for two days and took a steamer for Hull, England, and from there overland to Liverpool. I remember an incident there. There was a fight of several men, and a squad of bobbies was sent to bring them in. It became a general fight between bobbies and civilians. They were dragged to the jail. We stayed in Liverpool for five days, and we then boarded a vessel called the ‘Alaska’ for America. When we were 2-3 days out, three large whales came to the surface for air. Many flying fish followed the steamer to get the offal for food, and when we got to the banks of Newfoundland, the sirens and the horns kept blowing continuously that we didn’t get much sleep that night. 

In entering New York, we saw the statue of liberty and landed at the dock six and a half days from Liverpool.

John doesn't mention why Amanda and Joseph traveled separately to America several months later. I have not been able to find John (Johan) or Henry (Harry) Wessman (Westman) on any ship's register., including the voyage of the Alaska that matches John's description. They may have been traveling with other adults, using the names of the family.

When Amanda left Sweden, she left behind her husband, who would come three years later, and their two deceased children.

Amanda and Joseph traveled on the ship Alaska. Here is the ship's register. They are number 16 and 17.

Just as my family and I did, they would have walked down the gangplank onto the dock, walked into the immigration building, and walked up the gray staircase to the great hall, probably carrying all their earthly possessions.

We have mother Amanda's immigration record, and father Johan's, and Joseph's, and hopefully someday someone will locate the immigration records for the four Wessman children: Fanny, Bertha, John and Henry.

Here is Johan Wessman's Ellis Island record. He is on the next-to-the-last line, and his name is written "Westman."

Here are some of the textures in the immigration building.

Merle Hayward Wessman (1909-1945)

When a child is born, the hospital pricks its heel and soaks the blood into a Guthrie card. The hospital tests the blood for a variety of rare conditions including cystic fibrosis, congenital hypothyroidism, and phenylketonuria.

With modern medical technology, if a child has an early diagnosis, many diseases can be treated and the child can live a normal life, but in the days before the heel prick test, something about the child's development or feeding might not have seemed quite right, but parents could only watch helplessly as their child started to fall behind developmentally, mentally, and physically.

Merle Hayward Wessman was born September 27, 1909. Her proud new parents named her after her mother's beloved sister Leah Merle Hayward, who had died four years earlier.

Merle's widowed grandmother Amanda Wessman was a Swedish immigrant and temple worker. Merle was her fourteenth grandchild. Merle's other grandparents, Henry Hayward and Elizabeth Pugsley Hayward were respectively a contractor and politician, and Merle was their first grandchild.

Soon their darling little Merle developed the symptoms of what was then called "cretinism," perhaps a diagnosis now known as CH, or congenital hypothyroidism, perhaps another rare genetic disorder like Hurler-Scheie syndrome or Morquio syndrome. If it was CH, she would have slept a lot, eaten poorly, and had poor muscle tone and a low body temperature. Her belly would have distended and within a few years she would have failed standard developmental tests.

Merle with her uncle John Hayward.

Whatever the genetic or metabolic disorder, it does not seem to have shown up again in the family, and due to the size of the extended family, there's no reason to believe it will.

Not long ago, Merle was mentioned on Facebook, and in response, her younger sister Norinne sent a lovely hand-written letter filled with tender memories of her sister's life, with permission to excerpt it and include it here.

From Norinne:

My first recollection of Merle was when I was very young. She would sit in a rocker holding me, rocking and singing, “Go to sleep, my Renie, Renie girl,” (to the tune of an old song). The first line in the song is “Smile the while you kiss me sad adieu,” the title of the song is “‘Til we meet again,” —at least I think that’s the title. I still remember the melody, and she did quite well with it. This resulted in my family and friends (many years later) calling me “Rene,” which they still all do. 

You are right—she didn’t smile much (never in pictures), but when she did it was a sight to behold. She’d sit at the piano and play no recognizable tune, always in kind of a waltz tempo. For hours on end she would sit by the radio and play cards. I don’t recall if she ever played with other people. She loved to wash dishes, if you can believe that—14 plus place setting, 3 meals a day. She would cry if for some reason someone else did the dishes.

Merle, Grandpa Henry Hayward, unknown boy.

We moved to Salt Lake when I was about 9 years old. Mom, Keith, Boyd, Marilyn and I camped out in South Fork Canyon. I don’t recall Merle being with us, and I think she may have stayed with Grandma Hayward—she did that occasionally, and Grandma loved her. I think the others all needed to help. We also had 5 orphan kitties with us, whose mother had been poisoned by a horrible man, who would give cats and dogs poisoned chicken.

Front: John, Jean, Phil, Betty, Bobby (cousin Robert Edwards, son of L.R.J and Elizabeth Hayward Edwards). Middle: Merle, Harry, Paul, Dick, Ernest (baby). Back: Jean, Grandpa Henry Hayward, Henry, Grandma Elizabeth Pugsley Hayward.

What is sad is, I don’t recall Merle ever going to church with us, and never to our Pugsley family reunions at Lagoon. She was kept home most of the time; Grandma would take her for a few days quite often. Isn’t it awful that people with her issues were sort of hidden away. It is so different now—they are taken in groups on outings, etc. I’m ashamed when I think back on the way they were treated.

Jean with all fourteen children.

I must have been high school age or older when a terrible thing happened. John and Merle were home alone. At that time he was working for Mtn. Fuel Supply. John was bathing and heard some commotion. He wrapped himself in a towel and opened the door to see Merle running, screaming toward the kitchen, and she was in flames. He wrapped the towel around her, put out the flames, and called the doctor. Merle was in the habit of standing with her back toward the fireplace (no screen). The down draft pulled the back of her dress into the fire.

The doctor popped big blisters all over her body and dressed them with some kind of ointment. Her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes were singed. The doctor came every day for a long time to dress the burns. It was horrible! She could have died, and the house could have burned down!

When Grandma Hayward died 26 Jan 1942, Merle was very sad—she and Grandma loved each other so much.

Wessman family gathering, 1943-1945.
From left: Merle, unknown,  (behind: Beverly and John), Liz and Harry dancing.

When Merle was 36 years old, she was very ill with Bronchial Pneumonia and was in LDS Hospital. I understand that illness was common in people with Merle’s condition. Mom spent most of the time there. Merle thought Grandma was there. She also kept staring at a corner of the room and told Mom the kids were playing there.

Merle died on 7 April 1945.

John was in the army, and was on his way home... I keep thinking the funeral was at Larkin Mortuary, but I’m not sure. She was buried by Daddy in Salt Lake City Cemetery. 

See her entry at FindAGrave: Merle Hayward Wessman.

It was a good time for John to be home. Mom (and all the rest of us) depended on him in more ways than one. He was almost a father figure in the family.

A story added by Ernie's wife, Elaine, as related by Norinne:

I had talked with Elaine yesterday and was telling her what information I remembered about Merle to you. She didn’t know Merle as she and Ernie were not together at that time. She called me this morning to tell me something Ernie had told her years ago. He said that my sister Jean and Dick’s wife, Margaret, were staying with Merle at the hospital. They were looking out the hospital window; heard something and turned around. Merle sat up in her bed, held out her hand and said, “Help me, Daddy!” fell over and died. I had never heard this before. Ernie would not have told her that if it hadn’t happened.

Thanks to Emily for providing most of the pictures. My picture of Merle's gravestone is from a trip to Utah in 2010.

Keith Wessman (1925-2014)

Keith Hayward Wessman was the last living of the ten sons of Henry Richard Emanuel Wessman and Jean Hayward Wessman. [1] He died in Henderson, Nevada, this week at the age of 89.

After Jean's funeral, 1959.
Front, left to right: John, Keith, Liz, Boyd, Gam.
Back: Ernie, Harry, Jean, Phil, Norinne, Paul.

Here are a few anecdotes about his early life taken from several family histories.

Keith was a premature baby and did not do well at first. Henry said to put him out in the dirt and sunlight. He got quite brown. For many years, he was called "Brownie."

[One day] Jean was scrubbing the kitchen floor in her bare feet. Keith was in the bathroom (just off of the kitchen) taking a bath. He was about seven or eight years old. She said that she just got done and needed to wash her feet so she could get her socks and shoes on. She came and sat on the edge of the tub and put her feet in the water. She slipped right into the water. It ended up that she popped Keith up in the air and he ended sitting on top of her. It was a big surprise but they laughed about it for many, many years. 

Keith's first memories of his parents are of taking two cars loads full of family and friends and going up to the canyons to camp, eat, swim and play ball. On Saturdays, Jean made bread. She would also cook beans all day. After coming home from the canyons, the family would sit and eat biscuits and beans. Keith learned to love biscuits and beans from this experience....

Henry expected certain things out of his children. One time, Keith tried to run away from church and he almost got home. The next thing that he knew, he heard the old Dodge tearing up the road. Henry never went over 45 miles per hour.... He came screeching up the road and spotted Keith. He got Keith right back in the car and took him back to church. Keith does not know how he found out he was gone.

Another time, Keith was attempting to cut school (the first time). Henry ran him down and took him right back. Keith did not try to cut school again until he was a senior.

Keith with his niece Ann.

After his father died, Keith (even though he was six) felt as if he had to grow up. He wanted to do things that would bring his mother comfort. He did not want to give her anything to worry about. He knew that she was counting on him to do what he should.

The [Wessman] children were ... musically inclined.... Around 1930-31, John got an accordion for Christmas. Dick played quite well also on the guitar, ukulele and mandolin. They played quite a bit together. Keith took up the accordion and the girls took piano lessons. They were good at it. [Jean] tried to teach Keith the piano, but he never took to it.

Keith and Lilly Wessman and family, 1961.

Jean fought tooth and nail about Keith going into the service during World War II. Finally, she said that he was going to be 18 on his next birthday and there was nothing she could do to stop him. She signed for him to go a month before he turned 18. She was a good letter writer to all her sons in the service even though others may or may not have been. Ernie and Keith frequently sent letters home to their mother. Getting mail to Keith was tricky because he was on the ship.

Seven Wessman sons in the service, World War II.

From the Salt Lake Tribune, November 11, 1944: Seven uniformed sons of Mrs. Jean H. Wessman of 184 E St., have won for her a good citizenship medal, the fourth such destinction [sic] to be given a Utah mother during this war.... 

The Wessman servicemen are as follows: Cpl. [Corporal] Richard H. Wessman, 32, stationed with a repair squadron in Italy; Cpl. Philip H. Wessman, 24, who served for two and one half years in the Pacific Theater, now stationed with an infantry outfit in England; G.M. 3-c [Gunner's Mate 3rd Class] Keith Wessman, 19, somewhere in the South Pacific; Sgt. [Sergeant] Ernest H. Wessman, 23, now stationed with the field artillery at Camp Shelby, Miss., also served two and one half years in the Pacific Theater; S-Sgt. [Staff Sergeant] Paul H. Wessman, 30, stationed at an army general hospital in England; Pvt.  [Private] John H. Wessman, Camp Fannin, Texas, and Amm 2-c [Aviation Machinist's Mate? (US Navy) 2nd Class] Gammon Wessman, 21, reciptient of the Presidential Citation for serving in the battle of Attu and Kiska. 

Note.
[1] Henry and Jean Wessman had fifteen children: Merle (1909-1945), Henry (1911-1972), Richard (1912-1997), a stillborn son (1913), Paul (1914-1985), Jean (1916-2004), John (1917-2004), Elizabeth (1918-1999), Philip (1920-1989), Ernest (1921-2010), Gammon (1923-2004), Keith (1925-2014), Norinne (1926), Boyd (1928-1985), and Marilyn (1930-2010). Henry died in 1932 when Marilyn was one year old.

Amanda Hall Wessman's Headstone

Amanda is buried at the base of this tree. 

If you look closely, you can see the orange flag marking her headstone. 

After several unexpected delays, Amanda Hall Wessman’s headstone has finally been set. We are so grateful to all of those who donated time and money to help with this special endeavor.

A little about the headstone and its design. It is gray granite, similar to the stone the Salt Lake Temple is made out of. It is the largest stone the cemetery would allow, but we had a lot of information we wanted to put on the headstone!

Amanda Hall Wessman

On the left side of Amanda’s headstone is an image of the Salt Lake Temple. The image represents all her family sacrificed to follow their beliefs and become an eternal family. Fifteen days after Johan’s death in 1898, Amanda had his temple work completed, by proxy, and they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity. On January 22, 1902, Amanda and her living children gathered in the Salt Lake Temple to be sealed as a family. As part of that special day, Johan and Amanda’s two children, who passed away in Sweden in 1881, were sealed to their parents as well. 

Johan Bengtsson Wessman

Since Johan is buried in an unmarked grave in Kamas, Utah, we decided to put an image of a sailing ship representing Johan and what he did for a living to support his family.  It is also symbolic of the family leaving their ancestral home and coming to America. (Wind powered ships were no longer in use when they immigrated, but a sailing ship looks better on a headstone than a steam powered ship.)

Johan, Amanda and their seven children are buried in many different places, three of them in unknown locations. For this reason, we felt it was important to list all of the family’s names on the headstone. 

Back, left to right: Henry, Herbert, Joseph.
Seated, left to right: Fanny, Amanda, Bertha.
Photo taken 1906 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

This headstone is a fitting memorial to Johan, Amanda and their children who worked hard and sacrificed so much.  Because of this, we, their descendants, have much to be grateful for.

For those of you who would like to visit Amanda’s grave, in person or virtually, click here.  This will take you to Billion Graves website where you can view an image, obtain a map and get directions.

Here is a list of the rest of the family and where they are buried: 

• Johan Bengtsson is buried in Kamas, Utah, unknown location
• Fanny Constantia is buried here in Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Utah
• Bertha Maria is buried here, a short walk from her mother's grave, in Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, Salt Lake City, Utah
• Gerda Hildegard is buried in Sweden, unknown location
• Anders Johan Herbert is buried in Sweden, unknown location
• John Herbert is buried here in Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Utah
• Henry Richard Emanuel is buried here in Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Utah
• Joseph Harold Moroni is buried here, by his mother, in Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, Salt Lake City, Utah

The view from Amanda's grave, looking east. 

The yellow and red flowers are by her headstone.

Henry Wessman Obituary: Provo Daily Herald

Thanks to Sandee who provided a link to this article about Henry Wessman's death. Henry worked on the newspaper in Provo before moving to Ogden. 

Source

Provo Daily Herald, "H. Wessman Passes Away," March 16, 1932, 1.

Autobiography of John Herbert Wessman, Part 5 of 5

My son Frank came to Mackay to live and I put him in the drug store to help me. Herbert Jr. also came to Mackay. He wanted to get out of Ogden, so he located at Malad Idaho. He started in Malad and picked up a wonderful business. My wife Ruby had been ailing for some time. She had had one operation. She was not getting any better, so we moved her back to Salt Lake. I helped out in Church as a ward teacher, and I was put in as a member of the Sunday school board. Apostle Ezra Taft Benson ordained me to a seventy, Nov. 16th, 1947. 

Autobiography of John Herbert Wessman, Part 4 of 5

I was doing well in Idaho, but we thought we would be better off if we moved back to Salt Lake City. I bought a nice home at Ucon, I sold it and the Drug store and we moved back to Salt Lake City. I went to work, we bought another nice home in Salt Lake on Princeton Avenue and we prospered there. We met friends and started to go to parties, some of these friends were all right. I was never one to drink and carry on though. About 1923 I bought a drug store at Ogden. I done very well. I eventually started a new store in the residential section, worked hard, made money, but it seemed there was always someone living with us. We had a wonderful home, plenty of rooms and had a houseful all the time.

I got into the machine business and was really taking in the money. Of course, I had to have help, and I put these boarders to work and paid them good salaries. In those days, food was cheap. I remember I bought large hams, 17 cents per lb. It took plenty to keep up the house and business. I was making money, but just couldn’t be every place at once, sold the 5 point drugstore and got rid of the other store and disposed of my businesses, and went to California and stayed all winter.

Autobiography of John Herbert Wessman, Part 3 of 5

I wanted to help as much as possible, so I went to work for the Western Union Telegraph as a messenger. From the first I done well. I averaged $5.00 a day tips, which was big money those days, and from 5 to 60 dollars a month wages. My brothers went to school and my mother went to work in the Salt Lake Temple. I often think what this meant to both of us, and I thank god for this mother for she was a jewel among women. She started me on the road to success and Church, and I will never forget some of the things she told me. I want to relate an incident that happened. She was not well and one day, the President of the Temple and one of his counselors administered to here, and in the prayer she was told she would be shown what to do to regain her health. One afternoon I came home, she had boiled some potatoes. I noticed she had trouble in peeling them. I said “mother, why don’t you cook them longer”. Her answer “this is the way I was told to do”. By obeying that simple remedy, she was instantly cured and worked in the temple for 42 years – first 20 years not a day was lost when the temple was open.

Autobiography of John Herbert Wessman, Part 2 of 5

In entering New York, we saw the statue of liberty and landed at the dock six and a half days from Liverpool. It took five and a half days from New York to Salt Lake City. We went to stay with my sister, Fanny Parker, then I went to live with the Charlie Eleason Family at Millville Utah. I stayed at Eleasons for five and a half years, and had many experiences that were new to me. I set traps for wild animals, muskrats, mink, wild cats, coyotes and Mountain Lions. For the bigger animals I used to get help to set the traps at home, for they were so big. I carried them down to the pastures set.

One morning I rode my horse to the pasture when in the middle of the dam, I ran into 3 Mountain Lions. The horse gave one snort and whirled, jumped a 4 wire fence and raced for home. Mrs. Eliason said to her husband there is something wrong, Herbert doesn’t ride his horse like that. He ran to the corral, jumped the poles and stopped. I was still on his back. Another morning I went to the traps and found that a mountain lion got in one of the traps and had gone up the canyon. I was not well and the folks, they said I better stay home. Three young fellows took after it. It had dragged the pole seven miles. They shot it and skinned it. The skin measured 7 ½ feet over the back from foot to foot.

Autobiography of John Herbert Wessman, Part 1 of 5

Many thanks to Wessman cousin Dave Clawson, who sent this history. It includes lots of new and amazing information about the family.

John Herbert Wessman, born Oct. 14, 1882, Goteborg Sweden. Experiences of my life from the age of three years on.

It was meant for me to live and to come to this land of liberty that is blessed above all other lands of the earth. I have had many unusual experiences and I am grateful to my Father in Heaven that my life has been spared and I suppose it was to be. I had the raising up of a wonderful mother and thank God for this. If I can live an honorable life and graduate with honors in a life to come --in a life hereafter, I owe it mostly to the training of my dear mother.

At the age of three years there was a terrible epidemic of diphtheria. My older brother and sister died with it. Mother left me with a young girl to get medicine for me. I was choking and would have died but she picked me up by the feet and shook me. This broke the membrane in my throat and I recovered well thereafter. There was no diphtheria vaccine and it was almost sure death to have it.

Review: The Wessman Family in Sweden

An old house at a historical open-air museum in Tanum, Sweden.
From Christophe Dayer at Flickr.

After posting several rather technical snippets about the Wessman family, here is a quick review of the family history.

Our Wessman ancestors were farmers and farm workers from the countryside near the Swedish coast between Göteborg, Sweden, and the Norwegian border. 

View Larger Map

(On this map, "A" is Göteborg, the city where Johan and Amanda Wessman lived before they emigrated to America. "B" is Romelanda, Johan's birthplace, and "C" is Tanum, Amanda's birthplace.)

I have previously written a summary of the family history. It explains things like the Swedish naming system (patronymics) and the family origins. Here is a link to the history. It's in five parts but is fairly brief. (The Wessmans in Sweden.)

This fan chart shows the current state of the genealogy. It is presented here in some of the the colors of Swedish folk art. Additionally, don't miss a cool collection of pictures of Scandinavian folk art to give an idea of the cultural background of the area.

Much of the original work on the family lines was done by Johan and Amanda's granddaughter, Edna Amanda Olsen Taylor. Others in the family have gone back and checked and corrected some of her work. I am now entering my sources and corrections into FamilySearch Family Tree. With the explosion in internet resources, there is plenty more work that can and will be done on the history of the Wessman family in Sweden.

The Marriage of Johan Westman and Amanda Mathilda Andersdotter

Yesterday's post with the birth record for Henry Wessman gave a clue for finding his parent's marriage record. I read through the Göteborg marriage records on Ancestry until I found the correct record book.

Here's the page showing their entry:

A close-up picture:

Excerpts from the 1873 Marriages for Gustavi Cathedral parish in Födra Dom Deanery for Göteborg Diocese and County. Page 19. ... Number 51. March 30, Westman Johan, sailor and Andersdotter Amanda Mathilda, young lady. Born 1840/1848.

So far, every single record I've seen spells Johan's surname as "Westman."

* * *

Here are the birth records for Johan and Amanda's seven children. 

Fanny Constantia

Gustavi Domkyrka, Göteborg. 1873. May 5. Fanny Constantia (...) Illegitimate. Westman Johan Sailor. Andersdotter Amanda Math/a. Mother not married. [Incorrect in record. They were married, but perhaps Johan was off at sea.]

Bertha Maria

1876. Gustavi Domkirkr, Göteborg. No. 224. February 23. Bertha Maria. Legitimate. Father Westman Johan, Sailor. Mother Mrs Andersdotter Amanda Mathilda. Mother married. Age 35/27.

Gerda Hildegard

Gustavi Dom, Göteborg, 1877. No. 42. December 28. Female. Gerda Hildegard. Legitimate. Westman Johan Sailor. Mrs. Andersdotter Anna Mathilda. Mother married. 37/29.

Anders Johan Herbert

1880. Gustavi Domkyrke. No 534. May 16. Male. Anders Johan Herbert. Legitimate. Westman Johan, Sailor. Mrs. Andersdotter Amanda Mathilda. Mother married. Age 40/32.

Johan Herbert

1882. Gustavi Domkyrka. Göteborg. No 1200. October 14. Male. John Hereberth. Legitimate. Father: Westman Johan Sailor. Mother: Mrs Andersdotter Amanda Mathilda. Mother married. Ages 42/34.

Harry Richard Emanuel

Entry 71. February 7 [1885]. Male. Harry Richard Emanuel. Legal status: legitimate. Father: Westman, Johan, sailor. G [probably marriage date] 30/3/73. Mother: Anna Mathilda Andersdotter. (O.H. 34.) Mother: married. [Ages?] 43/36. Medical attendant: "ex."

Josef Harold Moroni

No. 235. April 23, 1888. Male. Josef Harald Marone. 7th [child]. Legitimate child. Father: Westman, Johan, sailor. G 30/3/73. Age: 48. Mother: Mrs. Anna Mathilda Andersdotter. O. H. 8 ? 20. Mother married. Age 40. Medical attendant: "ex."

* * *

I have looked through all the Göteborg parishes and other jurisdictions but cannot find the death records for the two children who died in 1881, Gerda and Anders.

A Surprising Birth Record: Harry Richard Emanuel Westman

It's been more than 20 years since I've done any Swedish research, but when my mother mentioned that she was going to have a chance to look into the Swedish records, I decided to add my research to FamilySearch Family Tree. Back in 1991, I did a painstaking look through microfilm after microfilm of Swedish records for a Scandinavian Sources class, mostly concentrating on the direct paternal Wessman line.

One thing I never got around to was finding the birth records from the Johan and Amanda Wessman family.

Now with access to Swedish parish records on Ancestry, I decided to look for the birth record of my great grandfather, Henry Richard Emanuel Wessman and answer, once and for all, the question of the spelling of his third (baptismal) name. I ended up finding more than expected.

The family records stated that he was born in Göteborg, so I started reading through the parish records for 1885. Luckily he was born in February, so it did not require reading through each entire record book. Fourteen record books later, I found this.

Here is a close-up of his record:

Entry 71. February 7 [1885]. Male. Harry Richard Emanuel. 6th [child in the family]. Legal status: legitimate. Father: Westman, Johan, sailor. G [probably marriage date] 31/3/73. Mother: Anna Mathilda Andersdotter. (O.H. 34.) Mother: married. [Ages?] 43/36. Medical attendant: "ex."

Observations

First, "Harry"?

Second, this marriage date may provide a clue to finding Johan and Amanda's marriage record.

Third, why the spelling of "Westman"? (With Amanda's name being spelled "Anna" I wouldn't worry that this was a serious alternate spelling.)

Fourth, Amanda is still going by her patronymic name of Andersdotter at this late date, rather than "Hall." I just added a note to that effect to her Family Tree entry.

Fifth, Henry's baptismal name is spelled "Emanuel."

Finally, here's the heading from Henry's birth record, showing that the family was living in Haga, a district of Göteborg, the geographically smallest parish in Sweden, and at the time one of the poorest and toughest.

In those days after the dissolution of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, it would have taken a monumental effort for this poor Swedish family to leave that environment for America.