Our Swedish-American Names

Those of us with Swedish heritage (and those without) can easily understand the meaning of the vast majority of Swedish surnames. Hanson is the son of Hans.  This Patronymic naming system was used throughout Sweden (and other Scandinavian countries) up until 100-150 years ago. For instance Hans had a son names Olof and Olof would then be called Olof Hansson. Olof's daughter Anna would be called Anna Olofsdotter. Around the turn of the century males and females both adopted the "son". If your last name ends in sen you are most likely Norwegian or Danish, not Swedish. Of course immigration changed some of that but we will get into that later. It was also a double s (Hansson, Jonsson) indicating ownership. Most American immigrants dropped the additional s and many modern day Swedes did as well.

Other groups such as nobility, soldiers or families immigrating from other countries may have a non-patronymic surname. Members of the clergy often Latinized their names. Lars became Laurentius, Gustaf became Gustavius etc.

Many other Swedish surnames you hear in the US (and Sweden of course) are "nature names".  The names are descriptive to nature such as a tree; Lind=linden tree, or Sjö=lake. Many who did not want to be seen as common folk or were noted as a distinguished tradesman (if only in their eyes) adopted a "nature name" which the family continued to sport. Those names do not point to a particular area of Sweden nor are those with the same nature name necessarily related.

Spelling also, through the ages, did not have the meaning it does for us today. In days of old all throughout Europe your name was spelled different ways on different documents depending on the education, thoughts or even whim of the priest or official who was recording you.

And the last wrinkle for us as Americans is that the family name in Sweden is not always the family name in the US. It is commonly said that "our name was changed at Ellis Island" but that is definitely NOT true. The names on the manifests of the ships entering New York harbor are the names which the Ellis Island officials recorded, verbatim. Those names were given to the ship lines by the immigrants themselves.  New immigrants kept their own patronymic or the patronymic of their father, son or other relative already in the US or they picked a new name entirely perhaps because it sounded more American. And spelling? Wow, that could now have evolved into a number of spellings with a number of reasons, not all of them logical to us.

What does that mean to the names of the three daughters of Robert Albin and Anna Abrahamsson? The three, now American daughters, who gave us the names we bear today?

Well here is what I have found.

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in" - Greek proverb

Today is Labor Day. I took an early morning walk. It still is technically summer, yet I see the beginnings of fall. I noticed again how many trees have been lost to the terrible Ash borer disease that has swept across the upper Midwest. Straight, tall, magnificent but now barren of leaves. A very real tragedy.

The saying "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in", is a favorite of mine. It came to me again. I live in a small town that is now considered a distant suburb of Chicago. Founded about 150 years ago it was originally a small grouping of homes with a tiny station on the railroad which linked the farms of mainly German immigrants to Chicago. Those same immigrants whose names are now seen on street signs and on the gravestones of the old town cemetery. Those same immigrants who may have planted those Ash trees whose time has come and gone. The Ash trees that shaded me and my children the 40 years I have lived in this town. This beautiful little town who owes much to the foresight of its immigrant founders.

What "trees" did my own ancestors plant? Those "trees" are the choices and sacrifices they made that has directly impacted the life I am now living, the life my children and grandchildren are living. I have been to Sweden and Norway, my ancestral homes, and I do find them beautiful and worthy of praise but I am an American. There is no honor greater than that. I started out my blog with the question "Why, why grandma did you decide to come to America?" I continue to search for the "why" but I don't ever want to forget to say "Thank you".

Let's go and plant some trees.

-Ranae

**clicking on photos or documents will enlarge them for easier viewing**

Saturday's Silly Ole and Lena Joke

Ole and Lena jokes are standard fare for the person of Scandinavian ancestry. Just for fun I thought that each Saturday I would post on both my Norwegian and Swedish blog, one of my favorites.  If I knew who originated them I would credit them but these are oldies but goodies? (a matter of opinion on the goodies)

Ole: "Lena! I yust bought a new hearing aid. It cost me four tousand dollars, but its state of da art. It's perfect.

Lena: "Really Ole? What kind is it?"

Ole: "Twelve turdy."

Happy Saturday! - Ranae

Saturday's Silly Ole and Lena joke

Ole and Lena jokes are standard fare for the person of Scandinavian ancestry. Just for fun I thought that each Saturday I would post on both my Norwegian and Swedish blog, one of my favorites. If I knew who originated them I would credit them but these are oldies but goodies? (a matter of opinion)


Every Sunday Ole would drive Lena into town for church services and every Sunday he would get a little too frisky with his hands. The day after their wedding they were again driving into town for church services and wouldn't you know...Ole was at it again.

       Lena:  "Uff da Ole. Ve are married now. I tink its okay to go further."

So Ole drove to Duluth.




-  Happy Saturday! - Ranae

Always on the Move

When I began this blog I also began organizing and looking again at some of the different documents I have on my Swedish paternal grandparents. Some of these documents have been in my possession for some time yet I never noticed something before now. My grandparents moved a lot. I made a list using census records, birth records of my aunts and uncles, directories etc. and this is the list I came up with

          1910 - 530 10th ave. Moline, Illinois

          1910 - 1134 14th street Moline, Illinois

          1912 - 641 E. 6th street Davenport, Iowa

          1913 - 1316 4th ave Moline

          1913 - 130 Tremont Ave Davenport

          1914 - 1112 9th ave. Moline

          1915 - 31 1/2 near 2nd ave Moline

          1916 - 3247 Sheffield ave. Chicago

          1917 - 3121 Abbott ct. Chicago

          1920 - 3056 N. Clifton Chicago

          1925 - 1808 George street Chicago

          1930 - 3215 7th ave. Chicago

          1930 - 3215 Oketa ave. Chicago

          1940 - Ela Township, (now Lake Zurich)

          1942 - 2029 Pensacola ave. Chicago

          1960 - 1616 Hollywood Chicago

          1968 - 1618 Hollywood Chicago

Thats 17 documented residences from the time my grandfather arrived in the US in 1906 until his death in 1968. I am aware also there are large blocks of his life as in 10 or 20 years at a time that I have no documentation as to his address. It is never a good idea to assume but surely there are more moves during those blocks of time. My father once said he remembers in the depression moving out during the night because they were unable to pay the rent.That would account for a lot of folks instability during the depression years leading up to WWII. For precisely that reason, the 1940 census asks where people resided in 1935, measuring how tough it was for some and how the depression had adversely affected their living conditions. What however explains Richards early years? Was he a forever dissatisfied person? a rent skipper? itchy feet? didn't get along with neighbors? hiding something? What??? Unfortunately with my grandparents, parents and all my aunts, uncles and their spouses gone I guess I will never find the answer to this mystery. 

There might be some very good or at least interesting reasons for this apparent instability but once again I regret never even thinking of taking the time to just talk to my grandparents. To get to know the where, when, how, what, and whys of their lives. 

-Ranae

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today would have been my father's 99th birthday. Richard and Lydia Kallman's third child, he was a momma's boy and proud of it. Born at home in Chicago, his mother claimed he weighed 10 lbs. at birth. Not bad for a boy who was a bit of a squirt and never topped out higher than 5'6". Named in the older Swedish tradition he was named for his paternal grandfather Carl but he went by his middle name Melvin. He was a character all right. Very conservative, straight as an arrow, tight fisted with his money but dependable, trustworthy and loving with a goofy sense of humor. He has been gone for 26 years now but I miss his jokes and hugs still.
                                           
                                                 Happy Birthday Daddy!
-Ranae

                                             **clicking on photos or documents will enlarge them for easier viewing*