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to Sweden Newsletter no 20 March 2006 |
 Blåsippor, one of the first signs of spring in Sweden Photo: Marie Louise Bratt |
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Hej! No blåsippa so far ... just lots of snow, and cold, even though we are well into March. But that will soon change, long before some of you will meet us here in Sweden and travel with us to villages and farms in many parts of the country. We look forward to our trips and to meeting all of you - and make friends with you, like we have done with so many of you throughout the years. |
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What's in this newsletter? 1. Let's first talk about our summer trips! There will be several this summer, and we still have some place available for two of the trips, the one that includes midsummer and our late summer trip, which starts August 27. More below. 2. Östergötland, one of Sweden's bread baskets, is a beautiful province, just south of Stockholm. Many of your ancestors came from Östergötland - I know, since I have helped quite a few of you find relatives there. 3. Swedish spelling is often confusing! I am now talking about the changes that have occurred during the last couple of centuries. It is important to know about these changes, because without understanding them, you might not be able to find the farm or parish, spelled quite differently today than it was when grandma emigrated. |
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Östergötland What is Östergötland like? Huge fields, but also woods and lakes, and a long and deep lake, Vättern, to the west. Travel east and you'll end up at the Baltic sea! A canal, the well known Göta kanal, cuts right through Östergötland. Here you can see a few interesting short videos from Östergötland: farmers who gather the hay, street scenes from Linköping and the Swedish king visiting little towns, all from the 1930s to 1950s. But now let's look at a map of Östergötland, so that you can orient yourselves. Click on it and you will get more details. You'll find the city of Norrköping, located in the middle section of the province. You might also be interested in reading about Östergötland here, a website partly in English. On the shore of lake Vättern are a couple of smaller towns, Motala and Vadstena (where the regional archives are located). If your website is in Swedish, please look for an English flag. Northern Östergötland was, for a long time, an important mining area, but when mining decreased many people from these parts emigrated. For example, about 300 persons emigrated from Finspång parish, about the same number from Regna, 350 from Skedevi and 560 from Hällestad. These were small towns with few people, so these numbers are considerable. A visit to Östergötland really has to include at least one of the many elegant castles. Ekenäs slott is one, but there are many more, for example Vadstena slott, in which Landsarkivet is located. You might also be interested in some beautiful rune stones! Genealogy in
Östergötland In 1845 Peter Cassel emigrated to North America with 25 people from the Kisa area in Östergötland. They settled in Iowa and created a Swedish settlement there, which they named "New Sweden". Kisa now has a museum called Emigrantmuseet with interesting letters, documents and photos. Just don't miss the songs! |
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Changes of Swedish
spelling The sound v was spelled in several different ways before around 1900, when the spelling was changed to v:
The k sound was often spelled q, for example in Qvarnböle or Qvidinge. The spelling of these place names was later changed to Kvarnböle and Kvidinge. The ä sound used to be spelled e in names like Westergötland and Wedevåg, now spelled Västergötland and Vedevåg. There were other changes in spelling too, but these are the most common ones that might cause you problems. |
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Wishing you a wonderful spring, with much sun and many flowers.... And if you now and then have questions about your research and about Sweden, please don't hesitate to contact me! If
you found this newsletter helpful to you, please forward it to friends
and relatives who might be interested. This is how you get to our front page!
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