Mappy Monday : Here Comes the Syversen Family, part 3

The Syversen Family
created using Wordle.net

Between 1870 and 1900, a number of members of the Syversen family immigrated from Lesja, Oppland, Norway, and settled in the United States. Following their move, family members usually took on a variety of surnames. The primary ones found through US and state census records or engraved on cemetery markers are shown above.

By 1900, the family members were scattered across the midwest and were known by a number of different surnames. Yet, they were still family. Below is a brief look at the Syversen family after they came to the United States.

Patriarch Syver Hansen kept the surname of Hansen. A few years after immigrating, he died in Jackson County, Wisconsin.

His oldest daughter Anne Syversdatter and her husband Haldor Ericksen remained in Norway, but all five of their sons immigrated to the US in the 1870s. The brothers at times lived near each other but eventually were scattered across the country.  Son Elias moved to Wabaunsee County, Kansas and was known as Elias Holvorson for many years. Their second son Syver moved to Umatilla County, Oregon. Lars went by the name of Louis Halverson after his move to Garvin County, Oklahoma. Their fourth son Mathias. known as Mat Halvorsen, lived in Morrow County, Oregon. Ole, their youngest son, ended up in California. Three versions of a surname, four different states, and that is just one part of the Syversen family.

Hans Syversen, the son whose immigration started this series of posts, eventually lived in Day County, South Dakota, and took the surname of Belle. His sons Hans, Ole, Anton, and Otto continued to reside in South Dakota but used the Belden surname, Belden being the name of the farm area where the family has resided in Norway. Anton was later known as Anthony Belden while his brother Otto was sometimes referred to as Oscar Belden.

Another daughter, Ronaug Syversdatter, married in Norway and later immigrated to the Trempealeau, Wisconsin area with her husband, Syver Johannansen.

Guro Syversdatter seems to have been the first family member to immigrate, coming to the Chicago area around 1870. After her marriage to Erick Pederson, the family lived in Jackson County, Wisconsin. Through the years, several family members would stay with Guro and Erick after they first arrived in the US.

The second son, Syver Syversen also lived in the Jackson County, Wisconsin area. Syver, however, was known as Siver Siem, Siem being the name of another farming area in Norway.

My Great Grandmother, Kari Syversdatter, immigrated to the US before 1881 and married my Geat Grandmother, Peter Petersen Myren, They homesteaded in North Dakota, and a descendant of theirs still owns the family farm. Two of Kari and Peter's daughters preferred to use the surname of Myron while the rest of their siblings, as well as the parents, chose to use the name Myren.

It has been interesting to follow the various paths taken by members of the Syversen family. As shown on the map above, by 1900 the siblings and cousins were scattered across the country. Each seemed to have a surname preference, and although many were farmers, they also followed a variety of career paths. My research in following the family has also led me to contacts with other family members living across the US today.

I chose to write this post without my usual citations, but trust me, they exist. Feel free to contact me if you are interested in the sources used for the information presented here.

A final thank you to Thomas MacEntee. His Genealogy Do-Over encouraged me to be more systematic in my research and in recording the information I located. Without these tweaks to my methodology, I probably never would have been able to write this post.

Now, I think I'll take a look at some of those Bright Shiny Objects I came across in this journey.

Coming to America: The Syversen Family, part 2

Lesja Church, Oppland, Norway
photo by Henny Stokseth, Wikimedia Commons

I've been on the immigration trail of my Great Grandmother Kari Syversdatter Myren for the past several years, trying to see how she left the village of Lesja in Oppland, Norway and came to North Dakota.  Previously I had described some of my efforts in a post written in March, 2013. After my relative ease in finding how her brother Hans Syversen came from Norway to the US, I hoped to be more successful in learning about Kari. I would use the steps that had worked so successfully with Hans.

1. Use the Norwegian census records for 1865, 1875, and 1885 to establish the last census year in which the family or individual was recorded as living in Norway. (Digital Archives of Norway). Also, check US Federal census records to see when the family is recorded in the US.

Kari was listed as living with her parents, Syver Hansen and Marit Olsdatter, in both the 1865 and 1875 census of Norway but not in the 1885 census. The first census which records Kari as living in the US is the 1885 Dakota Territory Census.(1) In this 1885 census Kari, now married to Peter Peterson Myren, was listed as the mother of two children, ages 3 and 1, both of whom were listed as being born in the Dakota Territory. This sets Kari's migration bracket as being between 1875 and 1882.

2. Check local parish records to see if the family or person is listed as a "Removal", the column heading used for individuals notifying the church of their intent to move out of the area or to emigrate. (DAofN)

Several months ago I was looking for something else in the Lesja Parish records and stumbled upon the Migration Record for Kari.(2)

At the time I first found this record, I made a note in Family Tree Maker about the other person, Marie Hansdatter of Belden Farm, who was planning to leave Lesja the same time as Kari. I wondered who Marie was, a neighbor, friend, relative. As I started planning to write this post and was considering resources to mention, I had one of those "duh" moments. Marie Hansdatter, born in 1858, living on Belden Farm is in all likelihood the "missing daughter"t of Kari's brother Hans Syversen and also Kari's niece,  It now looked as if these two girls might be planning to travel together to America, leaving Norway on 25 April 1878. Surely two women traveling together should be easier to track than one person traveling alone.

The Digital Archives of Norway has digitized a number of records related to immigration. In their "Emigrants From Oslo 1867-1930", I found a record that might belong to Kari.(3) The database provided the following information about a Kari Hansen, a possible name for Kari since her father was Syver Hansen. Here is the information provided about Kari; my comments about the information are written in red. These are the reasons I say it might be for my Kari rather than being certain.

• Names:  Kari Hansen possible name
• Gender:  female
• Age:  24  Kari's age in 1858 would have been 25
• Residence:  Oier Oier is a parish located in an area close to Lesja, Oppland
• Position:  a Girl term usually means a servant girl who isn't part of the family
• Date of emigration:  23 June 1878
• Port of departure:  Oslo
• Destination:  White Hall Wisconsin Kari's older sister Guro had immigrated to American about 9-10 years earlier and resided near this town in the 1880 US Federal Census
• [Ship] Line:  Hero This ship only took passengers from Oslo to Liverpool, after that the person had to travel to the east coast of England to board a ship to travel to America
• Freight cost:  paid sometimes this indicated that the person emigrating held a prepaid ticket from Oslo to their final destination, in this case, Wisconsin

"Emigrants From Oslo" is a database, not a digitized record which I could browse for myself. No matter which search terms I used, I was never able to find a similar record for Kari's niece and possible traveling companion, Marie Hansdatter. Nor did I ever find listings for Hans Syversen's family as they had prepared to leave in July of 1878 as seen in a previous post.

3. Study US Federal Census records to see the year recorded for immigration, number of years in the US, or information on naturalization. (Ancestry.com)

In the 1900 US Federal Census, Kari Syversdatter Myren was reported as coming to the US in 1880 and being in the US for 20 years. According to the 1910 US Federal Census, Kari had immigrated to the United States in 1879. The 1920 US Census recorded Kari as coming to the US in 1878 and being naturalized in 1890, the same time as her husband Peter Petersen Myren. The census of 1930 also provided the same 1878 date for immigration. So, in a number of different census records, Kari is recorded as coming to the US between 1878 and 1880.


4. Search for the family or individual in immigration databases and ships' passengers lists.  Use sites such as Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Library and Archives of Canada, The Ships List,  Castle Garden for immigration 1820-1892, Ellis Island, or Steve Morse's One-Step Search.

This step kept me busy recording "no record found" on my research spreadsheet. I searched for both Kari and her niece Marie Hansdatter without success. I used NorwayHeritage's databases to make a list of possible ships on which Kari might have sailed with a later April 1878 departure date. Some docked at New York, others in Philadelphia, or Quebec. Then over several days, I searched more than 25 ships' passenger lists accessed through Ancestry.com and was not able to find either girl listed as a passenger. Not giving up, I tried searching a list of passenger lists for ships departing England in late July of 1878, the time listed in the Emigrants From Oslo database. Still no success.

For those ships docking at Quebec, I searched the immigration databases found on the Library and Archives of Canada website. Next I tried searching in the Castle Garden database. Again, no records using either website.

Kari Syversdatter's date and means of arrival in the United States continues to be a mystery. It is obvious that she left Norway. Obvious that she lived for over 40 years in North Dakota. There is just that gap between leaving Norway and residing in North Dakota that continues to be so elusive. When I compare my efforts concerning Kari with those on behalf of her brother Hans, it has seemed much easier to track a male through the immigration process.

But wait, there's more ...

(1) 1885 Dakota State Census, Traill County, [population schedule], Hillsboro Township, p. 5, dwelling 428, family 440, for Petter Petterson [and family]; North Dakota State University Archives, Fargo, [microfilm # unknown].
(2) Oppland (Lesja, Norway), Parish Register (Official) 8, 1854-1880, Migration Records 1878, p 587; Digital Archives of Norway.
(3) Emigrants From Oslo 1867-1930, "Kari Hansen"; accessed Digital Archives of Norway.

Fearless Females*: Photos of Kari Syversdatter

It takes a special kind of woman to leave her native land and family, come alone to the United States, and make a home in a new country, probably never seeing her family in Norway ever again.  My GreatGrandmother Kari Syversdatter, I'm such, was one such fearless woman.  Today I want to share a few pictures of Kari from my personal collection of photos.

Kari Syversdatter Myren, ca early 1890s

I've written several times in the past about Kari.  In one post, I explored information about Kari's name and the variations in both her given name and surname.  A later post about Kari related my continuing efforts to learn about Kari's immigration to the United States.  

Kari Syversdatter Myren, ca late 1890s

And this is my favorite photo of Kari.  My mother at about age 12 came sneaking up behind her grandmother to give her a hug, just as someone was getting ready to take the picture.  I love the playfulness I see in my preteen mother contrasting with the ever serious face of GreatGrandmother Kari.

Kari Syversdatter Myren and her granddaughter, ca mid-1920s

* Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog has presented Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women's History Month.  Her prompts can be found here.

Wk#1GenealogyDoOver : Getting Ready to Get Started

Do-Over Button from Geneabloggers.com

Nothing like a new year to spur me on to clearing up some messes.  Now I'm going to be looking a little differently at my genealogical research, especially the two Norwegian branches of my family tree.  Parts of it are a mess.

Thomas MacEntree's Genealogy Do-Over looks like it will provide the motivation and support for me to tackle some of my Norwegian "issues".  I especially like the four points he suggests we focus on in our Genealogy Do-Overs.

• Capture everything and save for later.  For me this includes the reminder to actually take that close look at my saved material, then either save or delete it, based upon what I actually find there.
• Build a good research toolbox and keep adding to it.  My list of support materials, web sites, and articles is growing because I continue to stumble onto new resources.  I need to add them to my blog's toolbox so I can share with others, just as others have shared with me.
• Create to-do lists.  It is amazing how two days of a stomach bug or those wonderful holiday visits can cause me to forget exactly which trail I had been in the midst of following.  I need to do a better job with my computer "sticky notes" and with recording things in my research log.
• Pay no attention to that bright and shiny object.  Focus, girl!  Focus!

Several days ago, I got a head start (sorry, Thomas) by trying to get some consistency in the way I have names recorded for these Norwegian ancestors in my Family Tree Maker software.  Because of the patronymic naming system, so many of these ancestors did not have consistent surnames until after they immigrated to America.  Some of what I've done in FTM is arbitrary, but it has already helped me locate names in my database by keeping siblings' names together in my A-Z list of names.  

• Son of a man named Syver/Siver/Sivert is now recorded as Syverson (not Sivertson, Siverson, Syversen, etc.)
• Daughter of a named named Syver/Siver/Sivert is now recorded as Syversdatter (not Syvertdtr, Siverdaughter, or any of the other combinations I have found.)
• Because I am examining records from the Digital Archives of Norway from as far back as the mid 1700s, there is a wide variety in the spelling of names in birth, confirmation, marriage, and death records.  As I find another version of the name I am adding it to the FTM database, but keeping only the Syverson / Syversdatter name as the "preferred" or primary name.
• Because some records and databases automatically add the name of the farm residence to a person's name, this gives yet another name for a number of my ancestors.  Another personal arbitrary decision has been to add these farm names as a "Residence" in FTM.  That way it will be easier to select the appropriate parish register to browse through.
• For those ancestors changing their name after coming to America, I'm adding their Americanized name as yet another name in FTM.

Today's project as been to look back at one of my saved resources, a self published family history of the Syverson / Hanson / Belle, Siem family.  This 100 page booklet is a treasure, essentially a number of family group sheets, hand drawn family trees, and brief narratives about some family members.  I am so thankful that my mother finally met the cousin who wrote it back in 1980 and who gifted her with the copy I now have.  Although the information it contains is not sourced, it is filled with dates, names of spouses and children, and names of family farms.

Already I have found that I had previously incorrectly recorded several dates into FTM.  Other information I had entered into FTM but had not cited the family history booklet as its source.  And taking the time to read the narrative passages provided so many small bits of information - someone died of whopping cough, a father gave the family farm to a son at his marriage, and who immigrated to America with whom.  All things I had previously missed.

Now I feel I'm ready to get started.  I'm excited about being more focused in my work and hopefully that I'll learn more of our family story.  What caused so many to leave Norway and come to America in a 15 year time span?  How could they afford to bring those large families of 7-10 individuals?  How did they decide where to live?  Maybe I've already starting on my To-Do List.

Mystery Monday : Where's Kari?

photo by Steve Justonly on flickr

Ever since I found the path my Great Grandfather Peter Peterson Myren followed from Norway to North Dakota, I've been anxious to see how my Great Grandmother Kari Belle Myren arrived also.  I thought it would be so simple, just use the same search strategies and web sites that had worked with Peter.   Here is the link to Peter's story and the sites that were so helpful in learning about him.

It was simple to bracket a time for Kari's emigration from Norway.  She was present on her dad's farm in the 1875 Census of Norway.  According to information recorded on the 1900 and 1910 US Federal Census records, Kari immigrated to the United States in 1878 or 1880.  Final known date was the birth of her first son, Paul Myren, 1881 in North Dakota.  You'd think within a six year time period I should be able to find something helpful.  Welcome to the story of my current brick wall.  

For starters, I checked all the parish record books available on The Digital Archives of Norway using all the various name combinations, hoping to find that Kari had registered her intent to emigrate with the parish church.  I found absolutely nothing.  I had even less success using the Emigrants section of The Digital Archives of Norway.  Strike one.

Next plan was trying to figure out if Kari arrived in the US through Castle Garden, Ellis Island, or via landing first in Canada, again using the same web sites that had been so helpful with Peter.  Again nothing, even using wild card searches like "s*ver*" to search for any version of her original last name.  Strike two, nothing through these three web sites.

Then I decided to try looking for the emigration of any other family members.  The Overli-Belle-Siem book provided some information about Kari's father, Syver Hanson Belle Siem.  Her father came to American in 1882 together with wife Marit, his son Sivert, daughter-in-law Marit and grandson Sigurd after the Siem farm in Norway was sold.  Syver Hanson Belle (as he was now know) and his group joined another daughter Gunda and her family already living in Wisconsin.  Unfortunately the book has no mention of Kari's immigration.  Strike three.

At this point, I'd struck out, but I now focused on her older sister, Gunda, wondering if I could find Kari staying with Gunda at any time.  By 1880 Gunda was married to Erick Pedersen and was living in Jackson County, Wisconsin, but the census had no mention of a sister, sister-in-law, or anyone named Kari living with them or even nearby.

My Great Grandfather Peter is listed as a single farmer in the 1880 US Federal Census for Traill County, North Dakota, and their marriage apparently occurred shortly after the census .  The search through the entire 1880 census for Traill County, North Dakota,  revealed only Peter in that area, but no Kari.

That's my story for now.  My research record was lots of information as to where I didn't find anything.  I won't forget about Kari, I'll keep looking, and hopefully someday I will find her.  Until then, I'll remember this quote mentioned in Genealogy in Time Magazine.

"I have not failed.  I've just found ten thousand ways that won't work." --- Thomas Edison

Matrilineal Monday: What's In A Name?

Kari Belle Myren, ca 1898

Lately, I've been trying to learn more about my Great Grandmother Kari Belle Myren.  Sure I can find her listed in a number of records, but each record seems to have her listed with a different name.  Depending on where I looked, she is listed as Carie, Carrie, Cary, Karen, Kari, or Karie for her first name and Belle, Myren, Pederson, Peterson, Petterson, Siem, Sivertsdatter, or Syversdatter as her last name.  Such are the ways of an Norwegian ancestor!

A self-published family history, Overli-Belle-Siem Family by Marion Myhre Chappelle, lists my Great Grandmother as Kari Belle Siem, the daughter of Syver Hanson (Overli) Belle.  To me, my Great Grandmother will always be Kari since that was the way my mother spelled her Grandmother's name.  Below is a quick look at how Kari is listed in various records.  This variety of names is part of why it sometimes takes a while to locate information about Kari.

• 1853    Norway, Baptism Record, Lesja Parish              Karie Sivertsdatter
• 1865    Norway, Census, Lesja Parish                            Cari Syversdatter
• 1868    Norway, Confirmation Record, Lesja Parish       Kari Belle
• 1885    Dakota Territory Census                                    Cary Petterson (now married)
• 1900    U.S. Federal Census                                          Karie Myren (same husband)
• 1910    U.S. Federal Census                                          Kari Myren
• 1915    Census of North Dakota                                     Carrie Myren

Kari's variety of names reflects her Norwegian birth.  Born in Norway in the mid 1850s, her name reflected the patronymic naming custom used at that time.  Simply put, a child's last name was determined by the father's name and the sex of the child.  Kari's grandfather's first name was Hans and her father was Syver, Han's son, so her father was known as Syver Hanson.  Because her father's first name was Syver, Kari's last name was a form of Syver's daughter, sometimes written as Sivertsdatter or Syversdatter.  All of Kari's sisters had the surname of Sivertsdatter/Syversdatter; all of her brothers were Sivertson/Syverson.  At least this made it easy to know who the father of a child was.

Another part of Kari's name was Belle or Siem, names of two farms that had been owned by Kari's father through the years.  The farm name became attached to Syver Hanson's name and to the names of his children, like Kari.  This helped to distinguish between the Syver Hanson family who lived on the Belle farm and another Syver Hanson family who lived elsewhere.  The Belle as part of Kari's name also suggests that the family might have been living on the Belle farm when her name was recorded as Kari Belle in 1868.

These Norwegian naming conventions took a while to click with me,  but once I grasped the concepts, it has been helpful  in tracing the family back through generations.  A person's name often has clues as to a parent's or grandparent's first name, and the names can also point to where the family lived.  To help us all, FamilySearch.org has a clear explanation of these Norwegian naming customs here.

Final interesting name fact about Kari.  About 1881 in North Dakota, Kari married another Norwegian immigrant, my Great Grandfather Peter Peterson Myren (you got it, Peter, son of Peter, from the Myren farm).   Of their nine children, only one had a name drawn from generations of family back in Norway.  New country, new ways, new names.

The Day I Found My GGGrandparents

Norwegian flag in wind  by Hans-Petter Fjeld

My mother's father was the son of Norwegian immigrants.  I had heard mother's stories about her grandparents, Peter Peterson Myren and Kari Siem Myren, and could remember driving by the Myren homestead farm in North Dakota years ago.  However, mother didn't know much about her father's family back in Norway, my Great Great Grandparents. 

Learning more about them had been on my research task list for a long time.  Each August, Family Tree Magazine publishes their annual list of 101 Best Genealogy Websites.  In the category of Best Genealogy Websites in Europe, Family Tree Magazine had information about and a link to Digitalarkivet, the National Archives of Norway.  I took a quick look at Digitalarkivet, hoping to find tons of information, only to find that it (of course) was written in Norwegian.  

In order to even start a search,  I first set my computer to automatically translate printed text from Norwegian to English.  Next,  I opened Google Translator in a separate window so I could key in handwritten passages for a translation into English.  

A Family Search.org wiki provided one more resource that proved very helpful as I prepared to look at Norwegian records, a Norwegian genealogical word list.  This list was definitely worth a bookmark on my laptop, but I went ahead and printed it, storing it eventually in my Norway Search Info folder.  Now I was ready to see what I could find at Digitalarkivet.

One afternoon, using the National Archives of Norway database for the 1865 Census of Norway, I found my Great Grandfather Peter/Petter Peterson listed as a 18-year old living on his family's farm   I also found his father's name, Peter Andersen, but there was no mention of his mother.

The next afternoon, thanks to those translation aids, I found Peter/Peder's Peterson's baptismal record.  I already knew his birth date (8 Oct 1848), place of birth, father's name, and Myren, the name of their farm.  After making a rough translation of the column headings of the parish registers, I had an idea of where to look as I scanned the parish Minister's Book for Peter's birth date.  I spend about an hour skimming through pages of digitized records, looking for those facts, but it was worth it when I came across the record of his baptism.  There in entry 135 for 1848 was the information I had been seeking.  A column for entry 135 listed "father Peter Andersen of Myren and Anne Johnsdatter", my GGGrandparents, and another column listed the witnesses of Peter's baptism.

Kildelninformasjon: Oppland fryke, Lesja, Ministerialbok nr. 64 , entry 135

Later that evening I printed translation notes and stapled them to my printout of the baptismal record pages.  I was thrilled with my discovery, saddened only that I could not longer share this information with my mother.

Now I've already added more things to my research task list.  Right at the top is finding out what happened to my Great Great Grandmother Anne Johnsdatter.  Next I'll be looking for a marriage record for Peter Andersen and Anne Johnsdatter.  And then, there are Peter's brothers and sisters ...  As long as I'm not attempting to speak Norwegian with my southern accent, I'll probably do OK.