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.

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.

Maret Olsdotter's Death, Romelanda Parish

Maret Olofsdotter or Olsdotter was Johan Bengtsson Wessman's mother. As mentioned previously, women in Scandinavia did not take the name of their husbands when they married. They kept their patronymic, or father's name.

FamilySearch Family Tree gives Maret's death as "26 Nov 1885 ." This is incorrect. Here is her death record:

Utdrag ur 1885 års Dödbok för Romelanda församling i // Prosteri, Göteborgs Stift, Bohus Län. Page 2. Inskrifningens löpande årsnummer 24. Döds-år och månad 1885 Nov. dag. 7. Kön q. Olsdotter Maret, // frå //. Ålder vid döden. År 84. Mån. ___ Dag. ___. Enka. Dödsort Kange... 

Excerpts from the 1885 Death Index for Romelanda Parish / / Prosteri, Gothenburg, Bohus County. Page 2nd Entry number 24. The death year and month in 1885 November. Day 7. Gender woman. Olsdotter Maret, / / from / /. Age at death 84. Month [unknown] Day [unknown]. Widow. Place of death Kange...

I have corrected her death in Family Tree to 7 November 1885, Romelanda, Göteborgs och Bohus, Sweden. I have not yet been able to find the death record for her husband, Bengt Pehrrson.

Johan Bengtsson Wessman in the Swedish Church Census, Continued

The last time we were looking at the Swedish records, we were looking at Johan Bengtsson Wessman's entries in the Husförhör (clerical census). I got to the 1845-50 census and couldn't see the family at Braseröd farm anymore.

Three weeks later I've finally had an opportunity to look at the records again.

The family actually was still at Braseröd farm. I'm not sure how I missed them. So here are the next census records, but first, here is a picture of the cover of the 1851-1855 record book.

Romelanda Parish, Braseröd Farm, 1845-1850

The record starts with a note that the family is moving or has moved to Stora Äspholmen, another farm in the parish.

Farmer Bengt Pehrsson, 1796
Mrs. Maret Olofsdoter 1801
Son Gustaf [18]23
Son Andreas 2/9 1826
Son Johan 1/3 1840

Daughter Catharina 8/8 1829
Daughter Anna Greta 18/10 1833
... Borta Olsdr 1804     Kareby 48

Romelanda Parish, Stora Äspholmen, 1851-1855

The priest is using a printed book. Each entry stretches across two pages.

Stora Espholmen [Äspholmen]
? Braseröd

Retired farmer Bengt Pehrsson 1796 10/1
Mrs Maret Olofsdotter 1801
Son Gustaf 1823 24/6 [born in] Romelanda
Son Johan 1840 1/3 [born in] ditto

Romelanda Parish, Braseröd Farm, 1856-1860

They're back in Braseröd, and Bengt is not listed as retired anymore.

Farmer Bengt Pehrsson 1796 10/1
Mrs Maret Olsdr 1801
Son Johan 1840 1/3

As we've seen many times, Maret was born in 1801, but her exact birthdate is unknown.

As noted before, I'm trying to remember to put a copy of the Wessman family fan chart each time I discuss these families. Johan is the center person in the green. He was the husband of Amanda Mathilda Hall Wessman. Johan's parents Bengt and Maret are shown in blue. Not as much is known about Maret's family, because the parish records were burned at some point, but over time I will attempt to reconstruct her family from the other records.

Johan Bengtsson Wessman in the Swedish Church Census

The Swedish Lutheran Church kept a variety of Church records including a church census showing all members of each parish (Husförhör), and records of anyone moving in (Inflyttning) or out (Utflyttning) of the parish. Here are the Husförhör.

Johan was born in 1840. Here is the record of Romelanda Parish, Braseröd Farm, 1837-1842.  There were a number of families living on the farm. This record shows a tragic time in the family, followed by a big change.

Farmer Mr. Bengt Pehrsson [born] January 10 1796
Mrs. Inger Ambjörnsdotter [born] January 12 1797 [the cross-out means she died]
Mrs. Maret Olofsdotter [born] 1801
Son Petter [born] Sept. 16 1821 Moved out    Son Gustaf [born] November 1823 Moved out   Son Andreas [born] September 9 1826
Son Johan [born] March 1 1840
Daughter Catharina [born] August 8 1829
Daughter Anna Greta [born] October 18 1833
Illegitimate step-daughter Borta [born] February 8, 1824 Moved out[Illegible] [Illegible] Bengtsdotter [born] Dec 13 1824    Inger [illegible] [born] 18-1

The three children who moved out should show up in the Utflyttning, which we will look at next. Also of interest in this census are the following records of two of the witnesses (godparents) from Johan's christening:

Romelanda Parish, Braseröd Farm, 1842-1844

Farmer [he changed status from one type to another during this time period, but I don't recall the difference] Bengt Pehrsson January 10 1796
Mrs. Maret Olsdotter 1801
Son Andreas September 9 1826
Son Johan March 1 1840
Daughter Catharina August 8 1829
Daughter Anna Greta October 18 1833

Romelanda Parish, Braseröd Farm, 1845-1850

The family is not at Braseröd Farm anymore. They may be elsewhere in the parish, since their entries from 1842-1844 don't indicate a move out of the parish. The census is 124 pages long, so I will have to look through it another time, as well as looking at the move-in and move-out records.

Johan Bengtsson Wessman Birth Record

Amanda and Johan Wessman and child.

With the unexplained discrepancy in the ages of Johan Bengtsson Wessman's grandparents from Monday, I am starting again from scratch to make sure that all the families have been assembled correctly.

Swedish birth and christening records have been kept since 1686, when a church law stated that each parish priest must keep records for "All children legitimate as well as illegitimate with their parents and godparents names (and the) birth and christening date." [Source.] The records are not always available due to church fires and other circumstances, but families can also be reassembled using other church and government records.

When looking at birth records, the best way to make sure you have the correct person is by using a combination of names, places, and witnesses, since you can't tell from names alone. Since personal names in Sweden were taken from a fairly small set of names, it was not uncommon to have two children of the same age in the same parish with the same name, and I've seen families in the same parish where the husbands and wives have the exact same names and were having children at the same time.

So, let's start with Johan Bengtsson Wessman's birth record. He was born at Braseröd in Romelanda Parish, Göteborgs och Bohus, Sweden, on March 2, 1840. Romelanda Parish is now called Diseröd and from time to time records will be indexed under that name.

This is the church where Johan was christened when he was two days old.

Romelanda Church, looking much as it did in 1840. From Wikipedia.

Here is the Romelanda parish record book for 1840 to 1880. This book was scanned by the Genealogical Society of Utah (now FamilySearch) in 1956. The record is available from the Church on microfilm, or from Ancestry.com in digital format.

Here is the page showing Johan's birth and christening record. His name at birth was Johan Bengtsson. He later changed his name to Wessman.

Here is a close-up of his record.

1840 Births and Christenings in Romelanda Parish...

Entry 11. [March]. Born: 2. Christened: 4. Name: Johan. Parents: Bengt Pehrsson from Braseröd, Mrs. Maret Olsdotter. Age of mother: 39. Witnesses (godparents): Telle Oleson from Braseröd, Arvid Andreasson from N. Esphalassen, Catharina Nilsdotter from ___, Anna Britta Larsdotter from Signahög.

The next record created for a child would be the communion records. Romelanda communion records only cover the years 1812-1831, so they will not include Johan.

Next up is the Romelanda clerical census and the Utflyttning register. When I look up the family in the census, I will also check the place names shown in the birth/christening record to make sure they're correct.

Johan is the first person shown on this genealogy fan chart, in green. His parents, Bengt and Maret, are shown in blue.

Research on the Johan Bengtsson Wessman Family in Sweden

I realized yesterday morning that I am going about the presentation of the Wessman genealogy in a haphazard fashion. What I am doing is adding my previous research to FamilySearch Family Tree, and noting records as I see them. It can't make much sense to someone unacquainted with the family, though, so here's an attempt to make sense out of the many records and families.

Here's the Wessman family fan chart from a couple of weeks ago:

Most of my work has been on the left half of the chart (Johan's family), so here's a version of just that half:

I'll post this fan chart every time I present research and note which family is being described. I added this chart to yesterday's post.

A Few Notes About Swedish Research

Here is the Sweden page in the FamilySearch Wiki. It's still in progress, but it has some links to some good resources. The article "Finding an Unknown Father" is particularly good. 

Here is a simple guide to Swedish research: Your Guide to Researching Swedish Ancestors.

After I returned from my mission, I felt like I should learn Swedish, and I registered for a Swedish class, but the instructor was very young and was trying to teach by total immersion, which wouldn't work for my needs which would consist of reading and possibly writing Swedish, but rarely speaking it, so I dropped the class and have regretted it ever since. So until I go back and learn Swedish, I use lists of genealogy terms:

• Sweden Abbreviations in Family History Sources
• Genline Swedish Dictionary and Abbreviations
• RootsWeb Swedish Abbreviations

The picture of the Swedish-Norway border just north of the area where the Wessman family originated is from idleformat at Flickr and is used under a Creative Commons license.

Anna Bengtsdotter of Östra Berg, Hjärtum, Göteborg och Bohus, Sweden

A couple of weeks ago we saw the birth record for Pehr Andersson. (Also "Per.")

Pehr (or Per) and his wife Anna are Johan Bengtsson Wessman's paternal grandparents, so they are shown to the left in the red part of this  family fan chart.

I'm going through these records for the first time in years and am wondering why Anna is twenty years younger than Per, and he doesn't show a prior marriage in the family records. Statistically, there should be either be a prior marriage or another reason for the late marriage, such as military service, or there's a possibility that we are looking at the wrong family. I will keep looking through the records, including the church census, and build a case for this being the right family, looking first at the birth of our ancestor Bengt Persson, and building the family around him.


But here is the birth record I currently have for Anna Bengtsdotter.

Year 1775. January. 30 December 1774 born and 1 January christened. Bengt Torstensson and Anna Andersdotter, baby girl from Östra Berg [Hjärtum], named Anna. 

Witnesses: ___ Anders Olofsson from Östra Berg and Olof Mansson from ___, Gunnur Torbionsdr from ___ Bordag. Mrs. Malin Andersdr from Mullnyröd.

And here is the marriage record I previously identified for Per Andersson and Anna Bengtsdotter.

[Västerlanda Parish, 1792 October] 28 ___ and ___ ___ Per Andersson from Rösebÿu in Forshella ___ ___ Miss Anna Bengtsdotter from Vesterlanda ___.

Anna was born at Östra Berg, a place which shows up in the earliest church census of Hjärtum (1792), but which does not seem to exist now, and unfortunately I have not been able to figure out the technical details to see the historical maps of Sweden, since I'm still trying to determine which Mac browser will work with a djVu plugin.

This map shows (A) Hjärtum, where Anna was born, to (B) Västerlanda, the place where she was married in 1792. The parishes are six miles apart.

View Larger Map

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.

Amanda Mathilda Hall from Rungstung, Tanum, Göteborg och Bohus, Sweden

I haven't done any work on Amanda Mathilda (or Matilda) Hall's family and wanted to know how difficult it was.

First, I brought up her beautiful birth and christening record, which my mother sent a number of years ago.

Födde och Döpte år 1848...
Amanda Mathilda. 7./16. Anders Hall, E. M. Bruhn (21) u. Rungstung.
Sv. Andersß, Cath. Rasmdr i Rungst., Johs Hall på Grbßt, Ana Br. Olof i. Forsh.

Born and Christened in 1848...
Amanda Mathilda, born April 7, christened April 16th. Father Anders Hall, Mother Edla Maria Bruhn (21 years old) from Rungstung.
Witnesses: Sven Andersson, Catherine Rasmusdotter from Rungstung, [uncle] Johannes Hall from Grebbestad, Ana Brita Olofsdotter from Forshalla.

The information I wanted was the name of the farm where she was born. It was Rungstung. Here it is, at the end of this unpaved road:

View Larger Map

Here is the first place she shows up on a clerical survey.

County:  Göteborg och Bohus; Parish:  Tanum; Volume:  AI:19b; Record Type:  Husförhör (Household examination); Year Range:  1844 - 1850; Roll/Fiche:  XY-751; Handwritten/Stamped Page Number:  0/181.

The family's entry is in the right column.

It says:

Död
No. 268
Rbm. Man. And. Rasm. Hall Svbg. 1828 31/1. 1, K. dd
Hust. Edla Mar. Bruhn Udv. 1827 7/1. 1. 11 dd
Dott. Amanda Mathilda. Tan. = 48 7/4.
T. M. Svarteborg = 49

Dead
No. 268
Ropemaker Mr. Anders Rasmusson Hall, from Svarteborg, born January 1, 1828, ?.
Mrs. Edla Maria Bruhn, from Uddevalla, born January 7, 1827, ?.
Daughter Amanda Mathilda, born in Tanum April 7, 1848.
? Svarteborg in 1849.

"Dead" here refers to Edla's death about a week after the birth of her second child, Berta Carolina, in 1850.

Thanks to my mother and a helper at the Family History Library in Salt Lake for deciphering Anders Hall's profession.

The Forshälla Husförhör and Helje Andersson

One of the Swedish church records that is useful for genealogical research is the clerical survey or census known as Husförhör.

The Forshalla Church shown here replaced the earlier medieval church in 1855. So it was on this site that our ancestors would have worshipped, but in a different building. From Wikipedia.

Looking at the parish of Forshälla, a location mentioned yesterday in the post about Per Andersson, there are clerical surveys starting in 1809 and going through 1890. This may be after our family left the parish, but there may have been members of the Anders Olofsson and Ingrid Olofsdotter family living there into the 19th century.

I don't have immediate plans to read the Forshälla Husförhör. The reason I brought it up was to find a list of the farms in the parish, to help decipher Per Andersson's birth record.

And here's the list. (Apologies for not straightening the images. That's how they show up in the record, so it's a touch of realism.)

As you look at the index, you can see that the extra Swedish characters ä, å, and ö are shown in their proper place at the end of the alphabet rather than next to a and o.

When I glance at the 1809 entry for Helgeröd, I see an entry for a man named Helje Andersson, the right age to be Per Andersson's youngest brother, together with his wife Maret Persdotter and son Per and daughter Margreta. Helje's family should be added to our genealogical record.

As you can see from this example, the Husförhör can be a valuable source.

Pehr Andersson of Helgeröd, Forshälla, Göteborg och Bohus, Sweden

Just one record today. This is the birth record for our Wessman ancestor Per Andersson of Forshälla, the father of Bengt Persson and grandfather of Johan Bengtsson Wessman.

The handwriting takes some getting used to. Here's a translation of the parts I can read.

1756 

January 18 

Helgeröd 

Anders Oloffson and wife Ingrid Olofsdotter ??. Son Pehr born on the 15th.

Witnesses: Nils Andersson from Helgeröd, Olof Hansson from Arneröd, Jens Andersson from Helgeröd, Mrs. Marin Olofsdotter from Forshälla, Miss Karin Olofsdr from ?, Miss Gunnilla Olofsdr from Helgeröd.

The farm where Per was born now seems to be spelled Häljeröd and since 1998 has been in the county of Västra Götalands. This was not the case before January 1, 1998, so the county should be listed in the genealogy as it was at the time, Göteborg(s) och Bohus, even if the genealogy program suggests otherwise.

View Larger Map

The Google Map includes some beautiful pictures of the adjoining lake. (Häljeröd)

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.