Swedish SOLDIER NAMES & other info
-
In reply to:
Lindberg as a SOLDIER NAME
2/08/00
Corinne:
Just a coincidence - one year to the day after your posting.
Somewhere in my endless wanderings through the "forest of genealogy" I bumped into the following trees:
Some surnames from Sweden originated as an "Army" name in the 1820s. With the Swedish patronymic system (taking name from the father) the army had too many Nelssons, Anderssons, Jonssons, etc., to deal with, so it assigned names to conscripts such as the equivalent of "pistol," "helmet," etc. If a soldier had a special claim to some other name, such as an ancestor who had used it in the army or because an ancestor had been in battle in a place, for example, he could get the special name - hence, for example, Berlin. The history of Stettin, Pomerania (German = Pommern) [now part of Poland] in 1891 says Swedes as well as the Danes occupied it on and off, hence the migration of many names from the area.
What this means is [1] your Carl (or Karl or Carolus) MIGHT have been in the Swedish - or German or other - military and MAY have had his name changed by them, or MAY have simply deserted and changed his own name to remain anonymous; and [2] depending on what 'Lindberg[h]' means, it may have come from an object with military connections, or been borrowed from some famous military or other personage of that time.
It seems you need to explore the Swedish or other archives (German ?) using the Internet. Perhaps if you used this GENFORUM and looked up the SWEDEN or GERMANY or other forums, you could put in a 'key word' (example: soldier, archive[s], military, etc.) on the front page and click GO. Any mention of soldier names or some examples of them should pop up.
The SVAR (Swedish Archive Information, division of Swedens' National Archive) has a USA branch at Augustana College in Rock Island IL, in suburban Chicago TEL: 1-773-380-2818. They have archival microfilm and other information and may be able to offer some tips.
These films/microfiches are also available through the Family History Center (FHC) in Salt Lake UT, and can be rented for 5-6 weeks from any local Mormon church that has a Family History Center branch: check your phone book. If you go to one, you will need to look at the CD with the inventory of what they have available: first go to Country: Sweden, then type in the search for (example: Huddunge Parish) in: (example) Vastermanland County (Counties are called Land's in Sweden). You should then get a listing of all available Census records (Husforhorslangd), vital records, baptismal records, etc. available for that parish.
SWEDISH TRANSLATION SITE - Vad heter (det) på svenska ? What is (that) called in Swedish ? - http://www-lexikon.nada.kth.se/skolverket/swe-eng.htmlhttp://www-lexikon.nada.kth.se/skolverket/swe-eng.html -
Magnus Bäckmark - http://hem1.passagen.se/gronstubhttp://hem1.passagen.se/gronstub - said in July 1999: I can help you with research for $80 per look-up. For references and information, simply contact me.
Locate the province in Sweden and learn how to pronounce the name - http://www.bridgetosweden.comhttp://www.bridgetosweden.com -
The three extra letters in the Swedish alphabet are: å, ä and ö (Å, Ä, Ö) and they are necessary if you want to read or write Swedish correctly. Example: the Swedish word "släkt" (with ä) means "kin, family", but "slakt" (plain a) means "slaughter".
For place names in Sweden, instead of those difficult swedish letters å, ä and ö, try putting * in the word - http://www.sna.se/gazetteer.htmlhttp://www.sna.se/gazetteer.html -
"Tracing Your Swedish Ancestry" by Nils William Olsson (Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Stockholm, 1986).
"Swedish Genealogical Dictionary", Compiled by Phyllis J. Pladsen and Joseph C. Huber, 1995, Pladsen Sveria Press.
"Genealogical Guidebook & Atlas of Sweden", compiled by Finn A. Thomsen, 1981, Thomsen's Genealogical Center - this book has maps of all the "län" showing the locations of the parishes in each and an alpha index of the parishes.
Parish records were taken once a year by church pastors in Sweden. Civil (non-religious) Registration on a county basis started in Sweden in 1860.
More Replies:
-
Re: Swedish SOLDIER NAMES & other info
Kdaren Parkes 2/09/01