Re: John Stoneberg
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In reply to:
Re: John Stoneberg
Mary Jo Stoneberg 10/03/11
I assume you meant to ask what was his surname (not given name). The man I found on Emibas had the patronymic surname, Karlsson (meaning literally, "Karl's son"), because one of his father's given names was Karl. He had two given names, Johan and Severin. Swedes don't have "middle" names in the way Americans often do. Instead they have one or more "first" names (given names).
I am not at all convinced that Johan Severin Karlsson is the same man as your John J. Stoneberg. For one thing, there is the unresolved matter of your ancestor's initial, "J." Johan Severin Karlsson doesn't offer any reasonable resolution of the question.
Have you any idea what was the name referred to by John Stoneberg's, "J."?
Often the middle initial in Swedish immigrants was a reference to that person's original patroynmic surname. For example, if John Stoneberg had been born Johan Johansson, he conceivably could have adopted his new surname and at the same time "shortened" his patronym down to just an initial. This is actually reflects a common Swedish naming pattern. When someone adopted a family name like Stenberg (Stoneberg), they often would be formally addressed in the pattern, [Given Name] [Patronym] [Surname]. Once the person emigrated, it was easy enough to just abbreviate the patronym and treat it as sort of a middle initial (but rarely mentioned was what the initial originally meant). However, I don't know whether that was the case with your ancestor.
I think we need more information about John Stoneberg before we can solve this puzzle.
Jeff
More Replies:
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Re: John Stoneberg
Mary Jo Stoneberg 10/04/11
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Re: John Stoneberg
Mary Jo Stoneberg 10/04/11