Scandinavia Research is underway

Mark Rabideau / Johnson, Tools / 0 Comment

I have begun in earnest working on Becky’s side of the family. This means research in both Norway and Sweden has started for me. As one might expect the available references and information are a ‘tad’ difficult for non-native language speakers; and my German is not really very close to either Norwegian or Swedish!

Having said that I must say that the available resources are quite exceptional. I find those from Norway to be a bit more advanced and easier to use (not to mention free!). Sweden’s are less complete, more awkward technologically and they cost money; unless you go to your local LDS Family History Center for free access.

I will be posting what I believe are the most useful links (in my humble? opinion-IMHO) on ManyRoads. If you have some excellent links and pointers to share, please contact me so I can post them -or- just write a comment here.

Mar 24, 2010

Johansson Treasure Trove

Mark Rabideau / Johnson / Henss, Johansson, Robert, Sivertsen / 0 Comment

Yesterday was a wonderful research day for me. I began seriously researching materials and information to support the work my father-in-law (Robert Henss) had done on the Johansson family line (Becky’, my wife’s, matrilineal line). With a photocopy of his work in hand, I bravely proceeded into uncharted territory (for me).

To assign quanta to my success, I found 17 original source documents. I’ll post images of them on ManyRoads for me to admire quite soon. In all honesty, I must admit that the bulk of the 17 source documents were actually from the Norwegian side of the family (Sivertsens); there were but a handful from the Swedish (Johansson) side. Sadly, the family parish in Sweden have not been fully digitized, but they are working on it! Nonetheless, my feeling of accomplishment remains high and I am optimistic that I will be able to add and expand to our knowledge of the families, even given my weak Norwegian and Swedish skills (more on that in another post).

A good day it was. I will review the documentation today with Becky and then clean up the images for archival and research purposes (such as may be required).