A Peek at Our Swedish Heritage

This post is for you if:

• You are a cousin in my Ekstrom - Fors family.
• You are a cousin in my Nyström family.
• You are curious about Swedish dwellings.

Our Ancestral Homes

I've never been to Sweden, though it's on my bucket list. It's hard to visualize how and where our ancestors lived their lives. Our cousin, Claes Nyström, has been researching the homes of our ancestors and has his own vacation cottage not too far from the area where the Nyström and Fors families lived.

Swedish farmers in the 1800s had varying degrees of wealth, from small tenant farmers to large land-holders. Eric Carlsson Nyström (1772-1857) was a crofter and a tailor. At his death, he had no debts, so he was apparently wise with his scarce assets.

Claes' Findings

Claes writes:

I finally found Näsbystugan which I have been searching for and haven't found on a map. Eric Carlsson married Brita Stina Olsdotter in 1807 and moved into Näsbostugan, later known as Näsbystugan, together with her parents already living there. They stayed there all their life until they died at, by that time, very high ages. Eric died at 85 and Brita Stina at 91.

Their son Anders [Fors] came back to Björnlunda from Wårdinge in 1860, back to Näsbystugan, with his family. Brita Stina was widowed since 3 years back 

Anders' brother, Karl had rented a piece of land on the other side of Jättekyrkan and built a home, Karlshamn for his family on the other side of Jättekyrkan, by the shore of Lake Storsjön.

Anders [Fors] built a new house on the site of Näsbystugan and renamed the place Andersberg.

On the pictures we can see Andersberg ... and also "Lilla stugan" - presumably Näsbystugan.












The area of Sweden that Claes has written about is southwest of Stockholm. Follow the link to see a map of the general area. The size of the little cottage appears surprisingly tiny. At any time about five people were living in its close quarters. It appears to have a small attic or loft.

I also find it intriguing that Andersberg has never been renamed. It still bears the name that my great-great-great-grandfather, Anders Fors, gave it in about 1860.

Thank you for sharing your work, cousin.

A Twist in the DNA Journey -- Part Two

In the previous post we met "Sven", a new cousin from Sweden, identified through DNA testing. A few weeks after Sven and I connected, his father's DNA results had an unexpected match. Sven had no match and my Dad had no match.

The new match is for a woman of Chinese heritage who has moved from Taiwan to the USA. Let's call her "Lucy". How could Lucy from Taiwan share DNA with a man from Sweden at the 5th cousin to Distant Cousin level?

Let's expand the Ekstrom-Fors-Nyström family tree a bit.

Extending the family tree from the last post, we add Martin Nyström, a Swedish missionary to China. Martin, along with his wife and infant daughter, Ruth, disappeared in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Their story can be found on the website of the China Inland Mission. Martin's brother also was a missionary to China; however, he and his family escaped to safety.

Several European nations sent armies to protect their interests. It was a terrible time of chaos and violence in China. The Europeans raped and killed women and children, while the Boxers killed Europeans and Chinese Christians.

There are three possibilities for a Chinese woman to have enough Swedish heritage to be a match to the Nyström family:

• The infant Ruth survived the slaughter and grew up to have her own family. 
• Martin or his brother Fritiof fathered a child with a Chinese woman.
• An unknown Swedish soldier, related to Sven's father, impregnated a Chinese woman.

What a mystery! With all the upheaval in China over the past 100 years, can this mystery ever be solved?

There is a bit of a DNA lesson in this story. Little Ruth and Sven's Dad were first cousins, but did not have the same grandmother. They were half-cousins. Instead of sharing 25 percent of their DNA, they would have shared closer to 12 percent. If "Lucy" is a Nyström descendant, her percentage of matching DNA would be similarly decreased. The Family Tree DNA estimate of 5th cousin (or further) makes a bit more sense when we consider that reduction. Rather than 5th cousin, a better estimate would be half-first-cousin 3 times removed.

Who would have thought that a simple genealogical DNA test could crack open a door that was thought closed over a century ago!

A Twist in the DNA Journey -- Part One

It's been a while since I've shared much about my genealogical DNA journey, but the past couple of months have been fascinating.

This post is for you if:

• You are a cousin in my Ekstrom - Fors family.
• You are a cousin in my Nyström family.
• You are on your own genealogical DNA journey or thinking about it.
• You are debating who in your family should be next to have a DNA test.

A New Contact

On May 7, 2014, an email arrived from a man who lives in Stockholm, Sweden. I will call this new cousin "Sven":

My name is "Sven" and if I get it right we are 4th cousins 1R! I got the result today from FTDNA regarding my father's Family Finder.

Eric Carlsson Nyström and his wife Brita Christina Olofsdotter were my great great great grandparents on my fathers side.

My great great grandfather Carl Erik Nyström was brother of your great great great grandfather Anders Fors. I guess Anders took on the name Fors ...

The Family Grows

We have a friendly new cousin in Sweden with a good command of English. He has shared some photos and a map which will be in a later post. Part two will add more family information and a twist, so stay tuned.

Here's a graphical representation of our relationships and the DNA matching results. In part two of this series, the family tree will be expanded.

Lessons in DNA

1. Test the oldest generation. This match emphasizes what the DNA gurus teach. Sven and I both have results on file at FTDNA, but he and I have no DNA match. Fortunately, both of us took the step of having our fathers tested, also. Our fathers are in their 80s and we gathered that DNA while we could. For $99 each, we made this priceless connection.
2. Post your tree (GEDCOM) to your DNA testing website. I had posted my Dad's tree and Sven was able to see immediately where the connection was in our trees. He could follow the generations to calculate the relationship of 4th cousin to Dad and then once removed to me. We didn't have to ping-pong email to find the connection.
3. Work the closest matches first. Sven's Dad has a fairly close match to my Dad. FTDNA proposed a 2nd to 4th cousin match. Sven also has a match, but it was 4th to remote cousin. It might have been weeks or months before Sven worked through his own matches to the page where my Dad showed up. By working that closer match, Sven connected much more quickly.
4. Don't expect new ancestor information from every match. I've done a lot of Swedish research and have not added much information since connecting with Sven. He has augmented some of my knowledge and vice versa. The more complete your tree is, the easier it is to connect. You may be able to share bits and pieces with your new cousin(s) that will eventually lead to new findings.
5. Keep track of the matching DNA. I've added the following matching information to my files. When my Dad's kit has another match on any of these DNA segments, I'll know what family that match connects to.

Next time: The Nyström DNA takes a strange turn.