Genealogy Wise

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I moved this discussion to its own thread because the Wall suddenly got busy and it will be hard to follow there. 

 

   Persberg Gruvor [Persberg Mines] is a very old mining area near Filipstad in Värmland about 200 km west of Stockholm. Use Google to find some pictures. The parish may be Färnebo which is where some of my ancestors lived. (by the way Persberg is pronounced more like Pers-berry). 

   I really recommend not doing research while traveling on vacation. Research is very time consuming and there is too much to see. Most of the common records are on line. Do lots of research before you get there.

    General comments

o     Avoid the month of August, national vacation month in Sweden. Half of the country will be out and about. Hotels will be booked, vacation spots full of people. 

o     Do your homework, study everything before you go.

o     In Stockholm days are long in July... sun goes down about 10.30

  My travels in 2005 (early July)... we were on a budget, so call us frugal travelers. We flew to Stockholm (Arlanda) arriving 9.30 at night. Too late to find a place to stay so we had reserved a motel (Scandic) near the airport (20 miles out of town) for one night. Next morning back to the airport and took high speed train into Stockholms Centralstation. Went to Turistbyrå right in the station. Bought a day pass for public transportation in Stockholm... a bargain and no figuring out fares and zones... good for all subways, busses and trams. I think they also have 3-day pass. Ask lots of questions... they are good and they speak English.  Do not drive in Stockholm.  We stayed the next night at Långholmen, the former Alcatraz of Sweden. It is a vandrarhem (hostel) and hotel. We stayed vandrarhem and brought our own sheets (but you can rent them). Wonderful place to stay on a budget. We did not reserve a room ahead (risky). You stay in a cell on bunks. We took the subway there and walked about a quarter mile.

   After one day in Stockholm, we took the high speed train back to the airport and picked up our rental car. Headed for countryside west. You need a rental car for the countryside, not the least to have a place to keep your stuff in the trunk.

   Before leaving Långholmen, we reserved two more nights for our return trip. Again, no car in the city. Too crazy. Parking is a big problem and expensive like any big city. 

   Out in the country, we stayed at vandrarhem or bed/breakfast or relatives. (Just about all places to stay include breakfast).

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So much great information! Thank you! 

If you do want to do some computer research while in Sweden and are near Vaxjo in Smaland, near the "Crystal Kingdom" - although Orrefors and Kosta-Boda have closed (very sad) - go to the Emigrant Museum in Vaxjo. My sister and I spent a rainy day there that was very helpful partway through our Swedish roots trip in the second half of June 2007. Incidentally, while we had also been warned not to go in August when so many Swedes are away on vacation, rather than July, I suggest to start your trip at least a few days before Midsommar Festival in June, so you will be there for this major Swedish traditional celebration, but will have gotten over any jetlag you may experience.

If you are thinking of buying a new car soon, check out the Volvo "Overseas Delivery" program on the Volvo website and request the video (unless you can just watch it now on the website). I bought my little V50 there, saved $2K off US sticker price, saved $1K for car rental, got free car insurance there for 15 days, free round-trip airfare for 2 people on SAS from anywhere in the US, one free night at the Radisson SAS hotel in Goteborg (now my favorite hotel in the world), and because we booked our trip between January and March, we got a second free night there, so our first and last nights in Sweden were spent there. Volvo provides free travel agency assistance by an agency in Chicago, so planning and booking lodgings is very easy, if you want to plan that ahead. I highly recommend the Overseas Delivery program to Anyone who wants to buy a new Volvo at a discount and drive around Europe for a couple of weeks. For a modest surcharge ($600 in 2007), you can deliver your car at the end of your trip in another city, such as Rome, for example, if you just want to travel and not deliver your car back to the Volvo headquarters in Goteborg. Incidentally, when you pick up your car, they give you and others picking up their cars a red carpet tour of the factory, which was very interesting.

Marty Womer in Maine

Great informtion, especially on the Volvo delivery.

I just read that the Emigrant House in Vaxjo has closed. It has been strugling in recent years. Visit http://www.utvandrarnashus.se/eng/   for details. I wonder what will happen to their collections.

It is very sad to learn that the Emigrant House in Vaxjo has closed.  There was another museum or archive in Goteborg, although I have been to it.  Perhaps the collections from Vaxjo went there or to one or more university libraries.

Marty

My cousin and I visited last June. We had done a lot of research, but we hired a researcher/guide. He found information that we never could have found, using local historians, who met us at every stop. They showed us where our ancestors lived, provided photos, and a tour of the church where our great grandfather built the pews, including a copy of the contract! He set up meetings with living cousins and drove the car. It couldn't get any better! I'd highly recommend using a local guide.

Linda

How do you go about finding a research/guide? We are bringing my husband's mother too and I think she would love that!! 

   We carried the Fodor's Scandinavia guide book with us. Before our trip, we READ it and one or two other books as well. We read lots of material via Google and used it to research things like hotel prices. Remember, only a fraction of the hotels (probably the ones that pay a fee) show up of these online searches (worldwide, that is just how search engines work, for money).   The books, at best, will be a year old, but they will give you ideas. )

   Two other big helps...  Whenever we entered a town, we always went STRAIGHT to the Turistbyrå [say turist-biro]. They want to help you!  They often have discounts to places to go. Look for the blue circle signs with a white exclamation point... the international sign for information.  Also, the hotel where you are staying can be very helpful. Any places that deal with tourists will always speak English well. 

   Also visit    VisitSweden.com     and you may want to order literature soon even for 2015 travel. I feel you can never know too much.

   (My favorite little hotel in Stockholm - Anno 1657    and of course Långholmen per above.)

For Swedish names you will need to keyboard the Swedish characters to get to the right site. I can tell how to do that on PCs but not on Apple MAC. Can a MAC user help?

Our guide was Dick Eriksson. It was definitely worth it.

He can be found at "eXpertGenealogy"

Ericsson Sweden Genealogy

Box 6268

Stockholm 102 34 Sweden 

Lynn Anderson, it is so interesting you should mention Filipstad and Färnebo parish in Värmland because that is *exactly* where my Father is from!  As a matter of fact, I visited Sweden last year (late August-early Sept) with my sister and brother and went to Filipstad.  Because of my genealogy research beforehand and several inquiries via emails, I made contact with someone who not only told me we are related (distant cousins) but also gave me information that I have two FIRST cousins still living!!  My siblings and I made contact and were welcomed most generously!  We then met their families and it was like a wonderful reunion.  We shared pictures and family history and stories, and it was wonderful.  

There are Anderson's in my family tree.  Do your roots come from the same parish in Värmland, too?  Could it possibly be that we may have mutual ancestors?  ~~  I'm at soaringtoo@yahoo.com and of course also on FB, where there are a great many genealogy groups, some specific to Swedish ancestry, too!  Thank you!  

Sue,

Some of my relatives off on one side of my tree lived in the Filipstad area for a while. I did a quick search but did not find them.  I will look when I have more time. The famous Swedish-American inventor John Ericsson also came from Filipstad and was finally buried there.

Many of the men in my family tended to change jobs and work for various mines and metal works in the mining district - Bergslagen. The center of my family mostly comes from Kvistbro parish perhaps 80 km south of Filipstad. In the whole area you will find "hyttan" and "bruk" associated with many place names. These are smelters or forges. These small industrial installations  are called "works" in British but we do not have a good word for it in USA.
My ancestors in that time would probably not be Anderson because of patronymics.

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