SweAme

The Granat Family History

2012-02-27T11:42:00.001-08:00

The SweAme organization is extremely pleased to present Online The Granat Family History. This family historical document was prepared and printed in 2010 by Virginia (Ginny) Granat Mapes of Portland, Oregon. We are very fortunate to be able to share it with our SweAme readers.

It is a large PDF file and it is - as deep as it is long. You will find many strikingly beautiful old black-and-white family and individual photos of members of this Granat family. You will read in fine detail of some of the many life altering events of this family from Hova, Sweden. And upon finishing this excellent read, you will come away with a feeling that you actually know this family.

I don’t want to give too much of the story away too soon, but this young couple (Per John Granat and his beloved Ellen Lindblad), to fulfill their American dream in 1909, had to decide to leave their young son at the grandparent’s home in Sweden as they both boarded different ships for North America.

You can access this family history story by first going to their SweAme website page at:

http://www.sweame.org/getperson.php?personID=I428&tree=Oregon

Look for the Histories LINK near the bottom of the page.
I am very sure that you will enjoy reading about the Granats. And, I am also sure that Virginia will enjoy hearing from you - ginny@coho.net.

Happy reading everyone,

David Borg

Swedes in Texas – Finder of Lost Cousins, et al.

2012-02-06T13:10:00.000-08:00

Submitted by Pat DuBose

As a youngster growing up, I was not inquisitive, nor do I recall my cousins being curious, about where our Swedish grandparents came from or how they got to the small South Texas farming community of Kenedy in Karnes County. I remember the slight mention that my mother was of English/Scottish descent when we were with her parents and siblings, but neither side of the family showed the slightest interest in genealogy. My dad worked for a very large oil field services corporation that moved its employees around every few years as they were needed elsewhere, so there were 5 moves before I finished high school. We visited Kenedy over the years, perhaps only yearly, so I didn’t learn all that my Kenedy cousins learned about either side of the family.

Fast forward, through my 53-year marriage to a South Carolina native and the rearing of our two sons, to a time recently when my husband began to write a book containing family stories he heard as he grew up. Now, the DuBose family is very well documented, and the history in America began in 1686, when 4 brothers emigrated from Dieppe, Normandy, France, settling in what is now South Carolina.

I learned from the Sumter branch of the DuBoses to be aware of and very interested in genealogy. They are noted for seeing humor in life and for being good story tellers - my husband’s book will contain those stories heard at the dinner table, family picnics, and reunions over the years.

All that interest in ancestors and stories stirred in me an intense desire to look for my family. I joined Ancestry.com and, after dredging up long-forgotten bits and facts, began to collect family members. I reconnected with first cousins in Texas, and through Ancestry.com, found a young second cousin there who shares my interest in genealogy. We exchanged information and facts we remembered about our Swedish and English/Scottish ancestry. It was a beginning, but it was not much.

The most exciting and important accident I have experienced in my young genealogical life, however, was finding the Web edition of the book, Swedes in Texas, in Pictures and Words. The person responsible for scanning and editing this treasure is David Borg, and through exchanging emails with him, I became acquainted with www.SwedesInTexas.com (subset of www.sweame.org). What a bonanza that website has been! Through the site, I have exchanged information and photos with a heretofore unknown Swedish cousin in California and 2 more I never knew existed in Texas. I now have stories, names and photographs of ancestors I never knew, and I would never have made such connections without this website and that book. What a thrill! What a satisfying and heartwarming experience this continues to be. So many blanks have been filled. I am so very grateful, and I’m excited to go on with the journey.

Pat DuBose

SweAme Organization Logo Announcement

2012-01-15T19:30:00.000-08:00

The Swedish America Heritage Online (SweAme) organization has adopted a company logo.

This has led to a couple of changes to the SweAme website public home page - www.sweame.org.

Many thanks to the volunteer board of directors and in particular to Doug Anderson for making arrangements for the generation of this very striking and colorful company logo.

David Borg, Chairman
SweAme

SweAme 2011 Annual Report

2011-12-31T17:02:00.000-08:00

Swedish America Heritage Online (SweAme)

Purpose:

As 2011 comes to a quick conclusion, we the Board of Directors of the SweAme non-profit organization would like to thank ALL of you for your participation this past year.

This year was our first year as an incorporated entity and we are getting started on accomplishing our primary purpose and goals.

Our purpose as stated in our IRS 501(c)(3) status request document and the SweAme By-Laws is:

A. SweAme is organized exclusively for charitable, educational, religious, or scientific purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

B. In particular, the purpose of SweAme is for educational and historical research;

· by the digital preservation of genealogy data, records, documents, and images related to persons of Swedish ancestry,

· by promoting public knowledge of and an interest in the history of persons of Scandinavian - and particularly Swedish – ancestry,

· by presenting the contents of the Online Internet data base as a FREE and open resource for all public users,

· by facilitating an environment of learning and participation by Swedish Emigrant’s Swedish and American descendants in the documentation of their own separate branches.

Our goals and objectives to accomplish this purpose are being met by a growing volume of Registered Users and the accumulation of multiple types of historical information. This growth has been the result of a strong growth in the interest in family genealogy and historical documentation by Swedish American and Swedish descendants and, of course, the increased availability and functionality of the Internet.

The SweAme focus will continue to be the digitization of the Swedish immigrants who were living in America and documented in the 1900 census records. This basic immigrant family information is being updated by Registered Users on both sides of the Atlantic with information on their own expanding family branches.

Accomplishments:

Our SweAme (www.sweame.org) website (aka as swedesintexas.com) has been well positioned to facilitate this growing interest in digitizing our past and present and therefore has exceeded our expectation. As of the end of December, 2011, the data base statistics are:

Individuals: 124,473

Families 32,526

Registered Users: 684

Photos: 15,154

Headstones: 1,030

This year’s effort has also been high-lighted by the support and financial awards provided by two very prominent Swedish American organizations: The Swedish Council of America (SCA) based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation (BOPSF) based in San Francisco, California.

With the SCA award received on 16 May, 2011, contracted Registered Users have completed the digitizing of the Swedish born individuals who were living in St. Louis County, Minnesota, in the year 1900. This project added 8,734 immigrants (plus their families) to the SweAme data base.

The SCA project brought our total emigrant counts on the data base up to 25,340. This is 4.8% of the total of 591,969 emigrants that were documented in the 1900 U.S. census. (See the end of this article for a complete list of the states that have been completed that resulted in the documentation of these 25,340 emigrants.)

With the BOPSF award received on 25 October, 2011, contracted Registered Users have initiated the effort to add an additional 17,424 immigrants to the data base who were living in the states of Maine and California in the year 1900. This project will be completed by October 1, 2012.

2011 Summary Financials:

Income: $ 6,467.71

Expenses: $ 2,097.50

Committed to on-going projects: $ 4,370.21

Board of Directors:

Doug Anderson, Richmond, Texas

Lissa Bengtson, San Antonio, Texas

Larry Blomquist, Mesa, Arizona

David Borg, Salem, Missouri

Elin Criswell, Georgetown, Texas

Jason Eckhardt, Jersey City, New Jersey

Pam Hicks, Tyler, Texas

Organization Advisor:

John Norton, Moline, Illinois

(For management team bios, go to: http://www.sweame.org/sweame/org/introbios.htm )

Management Request:

Since you have read this far in the annual report, please take a moment to Post a comment about this article and/or our SweAme website. Submit a comment that we can utilize for future marketing efforts. We would like to hear from you if our SweAme website has been of any benefit to you in your pursuit of documenting your family history or if our website has assisted in any manner with helping you identify and make contact with a living cousin on either side of the Atlantic. Thank you again for your participation in the SweAme website project.

Finest regards,

David Borg, Chairman

Completed States/Territories:

Alabama

Arkansas

Arizona

Delaware

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Indian Territory

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maryland

Mississippi

Missouri

Nevada

New Mexico

North Carolina

Oklahoma

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

West Virginia

Minnesota (St. Louis County)

SweAme User Recognition Award

2011-12-15T05:29:00.000-08:00

As a wrap on the year 2011 SweAme User Recognition Awards, the SweAme Board of Directors issues a very special award to illustrate their sincere appreciation to Arnold Peterson, Round Rock, Texas for his major contribution to the Swedish America Heritage Online website.

This User Recognition Award is intended to recognize specific individuals such as Arnold, who has demonstrated a major desire to research, document, preserve and share our Swedish America heritage. Arnold has accomplished this by submitting a significant amount of data and photos of Swedish Americans and their descendants, who primarily lived in the Stamford, Texas (Ericksdahl) and the Central Texas communities of Williamson and Travis counties.

If this were the Hollywood Oscars, this award would be called a “Life Time Achievement” award. Within a month of our original Swedes-In-Texas (now SweAme, www.sweame.org ) website going online in May, 2007, Arnold registered for a user account. During these past 4 ½ years Arnold has submitted 2,464 images of individuals, families, headstones and obituaries. One of his contributions is a special favorite of mine - a step by step process for making his famous Swedish cheesecake dessert - “ostakaka” (OOS-tah-kah-kah) . See: Arnold's Ostakaka. Arnold uses a recipe by Mrs. Eric (Martha Olson) Rosenquist who lived in Jones County, Texas.

Of course, Arnold did not take all those pictures himself, but besides being very capable on the computer and using a scanner, he is also an accomplished photographer. You should see his picture of the famous “round rock” in the middle of Brushy Creek as the spring-fed waters meander through the city of Round Rock, Texas. This same Brushy Creek also flows quietly past Arnold’s back yard. In addition to enjoying being with family and friends, Arnold enjoys collecting stuff, in particular, antique oil lamps. This passion has held his attention for many years and has now filled part of his basement with over 200 oil burners.

Arnold lives in Round Rock with his wife Wilma and they will celebrate their 60^th wedding anniversary on the 22^nd of December, 2011. Arnold is no “spring chicken” like most of us, well, some of us. But, his desire and passion to help in the documentation of our Swedish American heritage is stronger than most of us. Wilma has told me that she really appreciates the website as it gives Arnold something to do and keeps him out of her hair.

Carl Arnold Peterson was born in Stamford, Jones County, Texas on March 20, 1927 to Carl Henry Peterson and Bernice (Swenson) Peterson. His parents were farmers, raising cotton, milo and cattle. He attended a rural elementary school, Pleasant Valley and graduated from Stamford High School in 1944.

After high school he joined the U.S. Army on September 18, 1945 (just a couple weeks following the surrender of Japan), and was assigned to the 9th Army Signal Corps, stationed at Sendai, Honshu Island, Japan. He served with the 62nd Signal Detachment, which included the time in Japan, as a radio repairman. After his discharge from the military on February 6, 1947, he returned to Stamford where he helped his father with the farming operation for two years. In the spring of 1949 he entered Texas Lutheran College at Seguin, Texas where he majored in physical education and minored in mathematics. While at Texas Lutheran College he met his future wife, Wilma Kaiser. They were married on December 22, 1951. After graduation they moved to Round Rock, Texas in the fall of 1953, where they were employed to teach school. Arnold taught high school mathematics for 17 years. After two years as principal of Pond Springs Elementary School, he became assistant superintendent in charge of transportation and maintenance. The remainder of his tenure he served as Director of Transportation. He retired at the end of June, 1987. Arnold earned his Master of ED degree at the University of Texas. He also studied one summer at the University of Maine and two summers at the University of Delaware.

Arnold also served one term on the Round Rock City Council. He has also served on the Palm Valley Lutheran Church Council, where he has been a member since 1953.

It has been a great honor to present this significant recognition to Arnold. He has been a hard driver and has been very persistent in preserving online his large collection of family data and pictures.

Thank you very much Arnold for your outstanding effort in helping document our common Swedish American heritage in “Words and Pictures” for future generations.

You can offer your congratulations and comments to Arnold by sending a note: apeterson92003@yahoo.com

Learn more about Arnold, his family and his Swedish ancestors at: Carl Arnold Peterson

(Note: You will need to be a SweAme website Registered User and logged in to view the information about a living person as provided by the above LINK.)

Swedish Christmas and The Lawnmower Man and Cat

2011-12-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

(Two short stories by Sheryl Arbuckle-Green)

SWEDISH CHRISTMAS

Carl and Alice were married shortly after WWII and this was to be her first Christmas with my grandparents. The bride was of Irish descent and knew nothing of Swedish traditions. As they approached Elgin, she began to rub her nose. “I think there must be something dead on the road.”
Carl asked what she meant.
"The smell! What is that awful smell?”
He replied. “That’s your Christmas dinner. It’s called lutefisk.”
My grandparent’s, Hilding and Ruth Kylberg greeted her as she walked into the kitchen. Her husband said, “Welcome to my family.”
There was no need to let local Swedes know when Q&S and Red and White Grocery stores in Elgin received it’s shipment of the Christmas cod.
Everyone in town knew; the aroma announced its arrival. It could be smelled from miles away. Inside my grandmother's store room were fish drying inside her old nylon stockings. When I was a child, I ran to my grandfather crying hysterically. “Where is Maw Maw?” I sobbed! Being a man of few words, he pointed at the kitchen. I said, “But her legs are in the store room!”

Lutefisk is a Scandanavian white cod fish that is on every Swede’s table at Christmas. It is served with white gravy and white potatoes on a white table cloth with white napkins surrounded by white Swedes. If the women didn’t make their husbands wear their Sunday black dress socks, there would have been no color at the holiday table. The fish must be treated in lye or ashes to remove the salt, then soaked in water for several days to make it edible. Otherwise, it is caustic and if eaten will be your last Christmas to partake of the gelatinous white fish. My grandmother saved ashes in her potbelly stove to use for her lutefisk. When Mr. C.O. Fredrickson came to visit, he would open it and spit tobacco inside. As soon as he was out the door she would say, “Herra Gud! He ruined my ashes! Now I have to start over again!”

The origins of lutefisk are a subject of debate. Some accounts mention a fish accidentally dropped in a washing bowl containing lye, and because of family poverty, the fish had to be eaten.
Some claim that the dish has been consumed since the time of the Vikings. The first written mention of "lutefisk" is in a letter written by Swedish king Gustav I in 1540. In other words, lutefisk has been around for a very long time. I never cared for it although I was forced to take at least one bite when my grandmother cooked it.

Christmas Eve at Aunt Annie and Uncle Herbert Fredrickson’s was what I always looked forward to. On a huge table was a smorgasbord. Everyone brought a covered dish and we ate twice during the evening; once when we arrived and again before midnight church services. My brother Russell pointed to a dessert and asked me what it was.
I said, “Osta kaka”. He filled his bowl, put lingonberries on top and devoured it. The following Christmas, he was walking around the table, searching.“Russell, what are you looking for?”
“ Rooster caca!” he replied.

Christmas was a magical time of cousins playing hide and seek around the hen house and fireworks exploding in the cold, night sky; Santa making a surprise visit wearing a homemade costume, beard attached with a rubber band... staying up past bedtime to attend Julotta and of course, lutefisk and ‘rooster caca’.
Through the eyes of our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, we revisit that special time and place.
The best gift under any Christmas tree is a family.

God Jul! (Merry Christmas)

THE LAWNMOWER MAN AND CAT

He wore his hearing aid every day but never turned it on. Maw Maw Ruth made him get it because he couldn’t hear her anymore.
She would yell, “Hilding! Hilding!” while he tinkered in the workshop; lawnmower parts, carburetors, transistor radios and Cat, his companions. I’m not sure if Maw Maw ever realized that the volume was always turned off on his hearing aid, but that’s probably why they stayed married. Paw Paw Hilding had a knack for taking nothing and turning it into something. He was the kind of man who knew how to do most everything. Cat watched him, never helped but it didn’t matter. She sat in his lap, silent.
He was a soft spoken Swede with a heart of gold but none in his pockets. He worked hard at every job he had and never complained about doing whatever it took to put food on the table, grateful for what he had. He lived in the same house with the same woman for fifty one years. It was a modest house and it suited him. Every door and baseboard was stripped, stained and finished with his own hands. He had a big garden and a small tool shed. He wore overalls stained with motor oil and his socks smelled like stale corn chips. He had no grand aspirations that I was aware of, but then I never asked. I wish I had.
Fixing lawnmowers on cool mornings and having luncheon meat with rat cheese at 4 o’clock in the afternoon was what made him happy. He was a man of few words, not demonstrative but his twinkling blue eyes spoke volumes. He may have hugged me, but I really don’t remember when. He sure did love me, though. His eyes lit up when I walked in the door.
Maw Maw Ruth passed away in spring and Paw Paw lost half of himself, cancer was taking the rest. Cat had to remind him at 4 o’clock every day that it was time for luncheon meat and rat cheese. He lost interest in tinkering with tools and retired his riding lawnmower inside the dark, sad workshop. He closed and locked the door.
Cat disappeared. Night after night he called for her. Night after night, she answered but he never heard her. One week turned into two.
The last time I saw him I said, “Paw Paw, why don’t we take the lawnmower out of the shed so you can work on it for a while? I think it would do you good.” We opened the workshop and Cat ran out. She had survived weeks on just rainwater and the occasional rat unlucky enough to be within paw’s reach. His blue eyes welled with tears as he placed her in his lap and started his lawnmower for the last time.
Paw Paw Hilding moved on one month and 3 days after Cat died. I wonder if they ever discussed the meaning of life when they were all alone in that workshop. I wonder if they ever spoke at all. I doubt it. They didn’t need to.

Sheryl Arbuckle-Green

More information about the Hilding and Ruth Kylberg family can be found at: http://www.sweame.org/getperson.php?personID=I130921&tree=sit0001

SweAme Major Announcement

2011-11-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation (BOPSF), based in San Francisco, California, has granted Swedish America Heritage Online (SweAme) a substantial award.

This grant will be utilized for the employment of SweAme website Registered Users who will assist with the effort to document the Swedish emigrants who were living in the United States in the year 1900. This project involves researching the U.S. Federal Census records for 17,242 emigrants in the two states - California and Maine - and transcribing their genealogical data onto the SweAme website data base. The schedule for this project begins on 01 December, 2011 and will run for 10 months until 30 September, 2012.

Barbro Osher is chair of The Bernard Osher Foundation and president of The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation. The Pro Suecia Foundation supports Swedish-related cultural and educational projects in North America and Sweden. Among the Foundation’s grantees are several American universities, including the University of California (Berkeley), Gustavus Adolphus University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Washington, whose programs advance understanding of Swedish culture and tradition both in Sweden and in America.

Barbro Osher is also the founder of the Swedish Women’s Educational Association (SWEA) chapter in San Francisco and was president of Positive Sweden/North America, an organization furthering the image of Sweden through educational activities in the United States. She serves on the Boards of the University of California (Berkeley) Foundation and the American-Scandinavian Foundation. She was also the 2008 Swedish American of the Year.

For more information on The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, visit their website at (http://www.osherfoundation.org/index.php?board_bio).

Finest Regards,

David Borg, Chairman

Swedish American Heritage Online (SweAme)
www.sweame.org

SweAme Board of Directors:

Doug Anderson, Lissa Bengtson, Larry Blomquist, David Borg, Elin Criswell, Jason Eckhardt, Pam Hicks

SweAme User Recognition Award

2011-09-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

The SweAme Board of Directors expresses a sincere appreciation to Sandra Stone Guy and her daughter Cynthia Guy Ali, for a significant contribution to the Swedish America Heritage Online website.

This User Recognition Award is intended to recognize specific individuals such as Sandra and Cindy, who have demonstrated a major desire to research, document and share their family ancestral heritage.

With the help of many family members past and present, they have collected, documented and published a significant Alfred Stone Family History book. We are honored that they have chosen our SweAme website as a vehicle to share and preserve this very beautiful and educational document: Life and Ministry in the Swedish Evangelical Church.

Thanks also to Jim Christianson of Austin, Texas. Jim was the first to recognize the value of this Stone family history document as to its impact upon the Swedish descendants of Central Texas. He took the initiative and contacted Sandra to alert her to the existence of our website.

If you have similar historical documents in your family files, we look forward to working with you in preserving them Online.

Sandra Stone Guy and her family live in St. Paul, Minnesota. You will discover from this document that her grandfather Rev. Alfred Stone (a Swedish emigrant) had lived in many places across the central and western United States serving as an Evangelical Free Church pastor. His travels also took him across the seas to Japan.

You can follow the Rev. Stone family career and life in this picture filled document at: Pastor Alfred and Julia Stone

You will also enjoy learning about the Alfred and Julia Stone family genealogy at: The Rev. Alfred Stone family

You can send your greetings to Sandra Guy at sandraguy11@yahoo.com and her daughter Cindy at cynali06@yahoo.com .

Finest Regards, David Borg

SweAme User Recognition Award

2011-07-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

The SweAme Board of Directors expresses a sincere appreciation to Per Hellsten, for his contribution to the Swedish America Heritage Online website.

This User Recognition Award is intended to recognize specific individuals such as Per, who has demonstrated a major desire to research, document and share his family ancestral heritage. Per has accomplished this by submitting data and photos of his ancestors and relatives who were part of the major migration from Sweden to America.

Per began his participation with SweAme on June 29, 2011, when he found on the SweAme data base two of his relatives who were documented in the original Swedes In Texas book printed in 1918. These two relatives were Carl Gideon Olson (page 257) and his brother Fred Olson (page 788).

Per Hellsten resides in Mölndal, Sweden, south of Göteborg on Sweden’s west coast, with his wife Lena and their three children; Sven, Elsa and Maja.

See their location: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=M%C3%B6lndal,+Sweden&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=57.655872,12.014923&spn=0.112227,0.266418&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=42.360237,68.203125&z=12

He works for the Ericsson Telecommunications company and his wife Lena is the principal at the Halmstad upper secondary school. As you can tell, Per and his family enjoy the summer time and swimming in the lake. But Per also stays up late at night working on the very large number of excellent family photos he has collected and is digitizing for future preservation.

These family photos have become very important to Per and his actions reflect his desire to protect and share them. He has noted that some of the pictures only exist in one copy and that makes them vulnerable to all kinds of destruction. Some of the pictures that he has in his possession were sent back home to the Old Country to tell how life in the New World turned out. At the time it was obvious who was in the picture - so no one bothered to make notes. And, now a hundred years later no one remembers.

The Carl Magnus Olson family (including Fred and Carl Olson) photographs were thrown in the trash when the house of his grandparents was cleared out after they passed away. It was just coincident that Per found them before it was too late. This Olson family had immigrated to Gladstone, Michigan (a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan). From there, both Fred and Carl moved on to become Lutheran ministers and served at Swedish churches in Central Texas.

Per has stated that the ability offered by the SweAme website to share these photos with others is very important. In addition to contributing some of his many photographs, he has contributed genealogy data on more than 60 family members.

I am sure that you will find the Carl Magnus Olson family information (and family photos) very interesting reading and viewing. http://www.sweame.org/getperson.php?personID=I125459&tree=sit0001

To view the basic data that Per has contributed in a Tree Chart format: http://www.sweame.org/descend.php?personID=I175666&tree=sit0001&display=standard&generations=6

To view a sample of Per’s outstanding photos: http://www.sweame.org/showmedia.php?mediaID=16306&medialinkID=5508

You can send your greetings to Per Hellsten at per.j.hellsten@gmail.com .

The Story - Swedish America Heritage Online (SweAme)

2011-06-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Swedish America Heritage Online (SweAme)

“The New Frontier in Family Genealogy Research”

Submitted by David Borg

Why A New Organization?

Do you remember how you got started - learning about your family history? You had heard that one of your Aunts had put together a book many years ago. But, whatever happened to it? To make things worse, she was deceased, as also was most if not all of her siblings and other family old-timers. Back in those old days (pre-Internet) those issues (and others) provided the difficult problem of getting started with researching and documenting your ancestors. It was all a very manual intensive and paper orientated process. In my case, my mother (Thelma Carlson Borg, who lived in Williamson County, Texas) had been the one who documented her family tree and helped me understand a few research techniques. But, it required a lot of family communication and waiting for return of snail mail letters which was not efficient and was not very exciting to me.

Of major help to Swedish family researchers in Texas, we had one of the most important Swedish American family documents (in my opinion) that has ever been published. In the 1910s, our fellow Swedish cousins (so to speak - most were emigrants themselves) worked on a very significant project of collecting family information on more than 1,200 emigrant families. Their product (Svenskarne I Texas I Ord Och Bild) was published in Swedish in 1918 and later translated into English in 1994. This was great for all of us “Johnny come lately” to the genealogy research table, but the book was not well distributed due to its hard bound nature and limited publication. So, what could we do to help? How can we share this wealth of Swedish Texas information with new generations of researchers who also did not know that the book ever existed?

The Internet Explosion

Of course, the solution came to us as the Internet. To start with, we scanned the book and made it available online. But, we also utilized a genealogy software package that allows connecting families together without duplicating records. The Internet and software not only presents the information online to anyone anywhere, but it also allows Registered Users the chance to make their own updates and additions to their records at no cost.

That was the easy part. We next realized that by looking at the U.S. census records that the original Swedes In Texas book only included about 25% of the total Swedish born Texans in the 1900 census records. Would it not be of help and value to document online the other known 75% of the Swedes in Texas? No problem. It took us 3 years but now the families of all the Texas Swedish emigrants are documented online as part of our SweAme website data base.

Our next thought was - why stop there? Why not include the data for all Swedish emigrants to America? The census records as viewed via ancestry.com indicated that there were nearly 600,000 Swedish born individuals living in the U.S. in the year 1900. No problem. Wait, let’s think about that. In calculating the keying time for 600,000 individuals and their families, it was estimated to require one person 100 years - not very good. But, that also means that it will only take 100 people one year to complete the effort - that’s not bad. That’s a doable project. So, how can we do that?

Starting A New Organization

It became obvious that we would need a lot of help. We would also need a non-profit organization that could request and receive funds from donors and funding institutions who were interested in supporting online Swedish American projects. We would need an organization that could maintain a website that would be available for access to everyone at any time for no fee.

We therefore merged the original Swedes In Texas data into a new website called SweAme (www.sweame.org). In October, 2010 we completed the process of becoming a non-profit in the State of Missouri. In February, 2011, we received our 501(c)(3) status letter from the Internal Revenue Service.

This was accomplished with the help of an all-volunteer management team scattered from New Jersey to Arizona: Doug Anderson, Lissa Bengtson, Larry Blomquist, Elin Criswell, Jason Eckhardt, and Pam Hicks. This year John Norton (2010 Swedish American of the Year) has joined our team as an organization advisor.

The SweAme organization has no assets and therefore no overhead expenses. All organizational and technical expenses are covered by management donations. One hundred percent of all other donations are paid to the Registered Users who are performing the keying of the records to the online data base.

Growing An Organization

We are now in our 5th year with this project and we are nearing the 100,000 records mark for individuals. Our current data base documents only about 24,000 Swedish emigrants. The other individuals are ancestors and descendants of the emigrants from data that has been contributed by our 560 plus Registered Users on both sides of the Atlantic. These numbers change daily as on-going efforts continue.

Our vision for SweAme is more than genealogy and connecting family trees together. It is a strong vision of preserving our past and present for future generations. Anything that can be captured by a digital camera can become an artifact image on the SweAme website. In addition, the item can be linked directly to a person or family which then becomes part of their family digital records.

The SweAme website has already demonstrated one of its key benefits - that is - connecting living cousins together from the different sides of the emigrant bridge. And, by expanding the scope to include all America, emigrants once lost by mis-spelled names and unknown locations, SweAme can now greatly increase the odds of a successful search for a “lost” ancestor.

The SweAme website data base is hosted on a modern and always transitioning technological platform that will evolve into future platforms and processes. The benefits of SweAme will continue to be enjoyed by many generations in the future.

Funding and Current Status

Our overall funding objective is to solicit funds from as many sources as can be identified. These sources include Foundations, Public Organizations and Individuals who have an interest in promoting the preservation of our common Swedish American heritage.

The Swedish Council of America has become our first major contributor. For more detail you can visit our Contributors and Donors page at: (http://www.sweame.org/sweame/org/recognition.htm) .

The funds awarded SweAme will be utilized to compensate individuals working from their homes (from anywhere in the world) who will:

view selected online U.S. Census records,
access the SweAme website, and
update the data base utilizing The Next Generation (TNG) genealogy software.

At this point in time, SweAme has accumulated over:

91,000 Individuals (emigrants, family members and descendants)
23,000 Family units
16,000 Media documents (histories, photos, headstones, etc.)
560 Registered Users

The Swedish emigrants (from the 1900 census) have now been documented for the following geographic areas:

Alabama

Arkansas

Arizona

Delaware

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Indian Territory

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maryland

Mississippi

Missouri

Nevada

New Mexico

North Carolina

Oklahoma

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

West Virginia

Although we have a very long ways to go to reach our primary objective, we can get there one step at a time - or, so to speak - one emigrant at a time.

If you are interested in contributing to the SweAme organization, please contact us via our website or send us an email: dborg@centurytel.net .

SweAme Major Announcement

2011-05-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

The Swedish Council of America (SCA) based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has selected Swedish America Heritage Online (SweAme) as a 2011 Grant recipient.

This grant and financial award will be utilized for the employment of SweAme website Registered Users who will assist with the effort to document the Swedish emigrants who were living in the United States in the year 1900. This project will involve researching the U.S. Federal Census records for 7280 emigrants in Minnesota and transcribing their genealogical data onto the SweAme website data base.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BECOMING PART OF THIS PROJECT, SEND AN EMAIL TO DBORG@CENTURYTEL.NET FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

The Swedish Council of America is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and supports around 300 affiliate Swedish American organizations. Their Mission Statement best describes their organizational purpose:

Swedish Council of America supports and fosters cooperative relationships between all groups and individuals who promote knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the Swedish heritage in American life and strengthens contemporary cultural and educational ties between North America and Sweden.

For more information on the SCA visit their website at (www.swedishcouncil.org).

Regards,

David Borg

Chairman

www.sweame.org

SweAme Board of Directors:

Doug Anderson, Lissa Bengtson, Larry Blomquist, David Borg, Elin Criswell, Jason Eckhardt, Pam Hicks

Stockholm on the Rio Grande book review by author Dr. David Vassberg

2011-05-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

Dr. David E. Vassberg published the book Stockholm on the Rio Grande in 2003. In the early 1900s a Swedish led land development group from Minnesota established the community of Stockholm, Texas, which was located in Hidalgo County in the valley of Texas on the Rio Grande River. The dream was the building of a Texas Swedish Colony in the fertile crop land near the river and the border with Mexico. The plan was good but the implementation was not totally successful. Stockholm today is a ghost town where only a cemetery and state historic marker remain to help mark the spot.

There is a four (4) part video series of Dr. Vassberg providing a summary of his book and this historic event and process by Swedish immigrants and descendants. He provided this presentation on March 28, 2011 at the Carl Widen VASA Lodge 743 monthy meeting held at the Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas.

You will enjoy viewing this video at our SweAme YouTube channel by going to
http://www.youtube.com/swedishamerica.

Return to the SweAme website for more information on the people who lived in Stockholm, Texas: http://www.sweame.org/browsealbums.php?mediasearch=stockholm+colony

David Borg

Introducing the Swedish America YouTube Channel

2011-05-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

Well, if you have a website, you must have a YouTube Channel. The name of our channel is "swedishamerica". You can find it at: http://www.youtube.com/user/swedishamerica/

This video channel will be utilized for private instructional videos and videos related to the Swedish Emigration to America era.

The default video is REALLY neat. It is a song (Vi sålde våra hemman) in Swedish which is about the personal feelings and hardships of leaving the homeland. Here below are the complete Swedish lyrics followed by the English translation. Enjoy.

(Note submitted by John Norton: The song "Vi sålde våra hemman" was written about a large group from Bjurtjärn-Karlskoga that emigrated first to Moline, Illinois, then headed north to found a wonderful little town known as Stockholm, Wisconsin.)

Vi Sålde Våra Hemman

Vi Sålde Våra Hemman och gav oss sedan ut,
Som fägelen bortflyger, när sommaren tar slut.
Han kommer en gång åter när våren skrider fram,
Men vi få aldrig skåda vårt kära fosterland.

We sold our homesteads and started on our way
just like the birds will fly when autumn is here to stay.
One day they will return, come spring again that's when.
But we will never see our native country again.

Och när vi kommo till den Liverpoolska hamn
Begynte ångerns tårar så stritt att bryta fram.
Det blev en hjärtans sveda I bröstet på var och en.
Man talar blott om Sverige och om sitt förra hem.

At first we travelled through the English countryside
on tracks and on wagons as quickly as birds would fly.
It was a lovely sight to see the land at last
but all the glorious sights kept flashing by too fast.

And later when we came to Liverpuddlian bay
the tears of regret finally started to have their say.
The hearts then started burning in each and everyone
we only talked of Sweden that used to be our home.

Vi packades tillsammans uti ett osunt kvav.
Det var för osss att skåda liksom en öppen grav.
Och födan som vi fraktat ifrån vår svenska jord
Den blev oss nu förbjuden att taga med ombord.

We all were packed together in one unhealthy cave
it was as if we'd stepped into an open grave.
The food that we had brought from blessed Swedish land
was suddenly forbidden and taken from our hand.

Och när vi hade seglat en vecka eller två,
Ett mörker däcket höljde och bredde sig därpå.
Ej se varann vi kunde, knappt andas eller gå.
Det var en gruvlig plåga för stora och för små.

And when we had been sailing for just a week or two
a horrid kind of darkness was clouding our view.
We couldn't see each other and hardly breathe or walk
it was a gruesome anguish for all people aboard.

Nu blir en ömklig hunger, med sorg och grät och gny.
En jämmer som sig tränger till himlens höga sky.
Och döden gruvligt härjar bland mänskorna ombord.
Man ser de döda kastas I havets vilda flod.

The air was filled with hunger and drenched in wretched cries,
the howling and the noises would pierce right through the skies
and death became the ruler that forces us to our knees.
The dead were buried in the horrid fathom of the seas.

Introducing the SweAme blog

2011-04-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

Does the non-profit organization Swedish America Heritage Online (SweAme) need a "blog space"?

I am not sure, but I wanted to try it to see if anyone would be interested.

This first blog is to provide you a LINK to information that is being gathered on Stockholm, Texas. Yes, I said Stockholm, Texas. You, as most of us, most likely have never heard of such a place. Details on this now ghost town are being gathered as we speak and is now partially available on http://www.sweame.org/. From the SweAme website Public Home Page select the Albums tab on the left and Search for the "Stockholm Colony" album. Enjoy learning about a very interesting group of people who attempted to establish a significant Swedish presence in the lower Rio Grande valley area of Texas.