Filed in Amanuensis Monday,WeeksTags: ,

Samuel and Sarah Weeks were my husband’s 3rd great-grandparents. Samuel remarried to Martha after the death of his wife.

I think that they must have made a mistake in the date on the deed.  Sarah Weeks didn’t die until 1875 and Samuel married Martha in October of 1876. It would have been a simple mistake to leave the seven off.

This Indenture made this the Twenty six day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and Seventy in between Samuel Weeks Peter H. Weeks Mary Weeks only heirs at law of Sarah A. Weeks deceased except the party of the second part, of Baldwin City and State of Kansas of the first part and Lyman P. Weeks of the second part.  Witnesseth, that the said parties of the first part in consideration of the sum of One Thousand ($1000) Dollars to them duly paid have sold and by these presents do _____ ______ and quit claim unto the said party of the second part his heirs and assigns forever.  all that tract or parcel of land situated in the County of Douglas and State of Kansas and described as follows to wit:  The South three and one third (3 1/3) acres of the North Six acres of the South Forty (40) acres of the East Sixty (60) acres of the South West quarter (1/4) of section thirty four (34) Township Fourteen (14) Range Twenty (20) formerly Block Seventy Eight (78) in Baldwin City as shown by the Plot on file in that office of the Register of Deeds of Douglas County Kansas, with the appertunances unto the said party of the second part his heirs and assigns forever.

In witness whereof, the said parties of the first part have hereunto Signed. Sealed and Delivered in the presence of S.N. Walker

Mary Weeks {seal}
P. H. Weeks {seal}
Samuel Weeks
Martha R. Weeks

State of Kansas
County of Douglas}
Be it Remembered that on this first day of January A.D 1877, before me a Notary Public in and for said County and state came Mary Weeks Peter H. Weeks to me personally known to be the same persons who executed the foregoing instrument and duly acknowledged the execution of the same.
In Witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed my official seal on the day and year last above written. S.N. Walker Notary Public

State of Indiana
Clark County}
Before me William C. Hester a Notary Public in and for said Clark County and State of Indiana personally came Samuel Weeks and Martha R. Weeks and acknowledged the execution of the foregoing deed.
Witness my hand + notarial seal William C. Hester Notary Public
Recorded June 16 1877 at 11 am ? Register of Deeds

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Filed in Follow Friday

I spent a lot of time searching through the Swedish church records this past week, but not as much time as I would have liked.  There just aren’t enough hours in the day, are there?

I guess I need some better time management skills or something.  Between parenting and teaching 5 kids at home, keeping the house semi-clean and everyone fed (usually – cereal can be dinner, right?), doing genealogy, helping out with ESL class, attending Bible study, blogging, taking a lot of pictures, and walking 40 miles a week, I don’t have much time left to sleep. 🙂

I’m going to continue focusing on my Swedish roots this next week as I have free time.  I’ve been really excited about what I’ve found so far.  Now if only I could actually read Swedish.  I can decipher enough to figure out it’s my ancestor, but I know that I’m missing out on a lot of great clues since I can’t figure out what some of it says.  Maybe it’s time to start studying Swedish.  I’ll add it to my list of things to accomplish….

This past week has been a busy one.  I really wish that I wasn’t such a night owl, but if I didn’t stay up late, then I wouldn’t get anything done.  Of course, I could probably do those same things in the morning, but that would require me getting out of bed early – which I have a hard time doing (7:30 is my norm). Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Well, I’ve probably rambled enough. Here are some of my favorite finds from this past week:

And a few pictures to share:

Yes, you guessed it.  We made ANOTHER trip to the zoo.  It’s close by and FREE since we have a membership.  We’re there a lot.I love watching the monkeys. 🙂 This guy was watching US.My daughter Ellie drew this picture.  It cracks me up.

I took some pictures for a fellow military family this past week.  A father, his son and his son’s wife all serving.  His son was on leave from Afghanistan.I hope you all have a great week!!

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Filed in Swedish Genealogy

My Swedish roots have been calling me.  I don’t know what it is, but I’m so interested in following these lines a bit more.  Swedish records are wonderful and I know that there is so much information just waiting for me to find it – all in the church records.

I’ve devoted my free time this week to searching this line. It’s nice to have a little focus instead of randomly skipping from line to line.  I definitely need more focus. I tend to be a scatterbrained genealogist.

Here are some (very random) observations and thoughts that have crossed my mind while researching my Swedes:

  • When I was a kid, I don’t remember my Grandma Eleanore every doing anything “Swedish”.  Her parents were both born and married in Sweden.  They had 2 children before immigrating to Seattle and another 2 afterward.  My grandma was the youngest and I suppose that she simply was an American.  Her older sister seemed to have held onto her Swedish roots more, but she spoke Swedish as a first language, and married another Swedish immigrant.  I wonder what my grandma’s childhood was like – did her parents speak Swedish or English to her?
  • I just realized that both of my great-grandparents (my Swedish immigrants) were fatherless.  Lars Julius Bergman’s father died one month before he was born.  His wife, Eugenia Klarstrom’s father died when she was 2 years old. I wonder if this had something to do with them deciding to leave Sweden.
  • The number of children born out of wedlock in Sweden in the late 1800’s was much higher than I would have thought.  I have a number of ancestors whose parents weren’t married when they were born. I never would have guessed that this was so common.
  • It’s really hard reading documents written hundreds of years ago in another language, with sometimes different script and abbreviations.  Trying to figure out place names has been a challenge too.  The Family Search site has been helpful in that it lists out the place names of the different parishes.  I never would have figured out most of them without this tool.
  • I’ve had an easy enough time finding my ancestors who lived in small rural communities.  It’s not so easy to search page by page through a big city though.  I suppose I’ll just have to put a movie on and start looking through the entire city of Gavle for them.
  • The Swedes were not original with their names.  It seems like there are just a handful of names which are used over and over and over again: Lars, Anders, Nils, Olof, Johan, Per, Karl, Erik, Sven, Kjerstin/Christina, Catherina, Maria, Karin, Brita etc.  It makes finding MY Lars and Per and Nils and Kjerstin a lot harder.
  • Add to that the fact that they didn’t have last names, and it gets even more difficult.  It is helpful though since it gives you their father’s name.  It’s just a lot of the same names over and over which is sometimes hard to sift through.
  • I’m thankful that at least a couple of my ancestors adopted a surname early on (before 1800) – Klarstrom and Bennberg.  It has made them a bit easier to find amongst all of the -sons and -dotters.
  • I think it’s really cool that I have ancestors that came through Ellis Island.  Most of my other lines came to America much earlier than my Swedish ancestors (who came in 1913-1914).
  • I really want to go to Sweden someday.
  • I’m wishing that America had such wonderful parish records as Sweden has.  Household examinations, births, deaths, moving ins and outs, burials, baptisms, etc.  It’s WONDERFUL not having to skip 10-20 years to find them in the census.  The household examinations are continuous – every year!!!
  • I realize that I’m very lucky that I knew what parishes my family came from, because it saved me a lot of research time.
  • Searching through the parish records has reminded me of the fact that I really need to use a research log – so I can mark down which records I’ve already searched.  It’s so uncool to search the same records again (and again and again in some cases).

Do YOU have Swedish Roots?

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Filed in Sunday's Obituary,Thornton

James Patrick Thornton was my 3rd great-grandfather.  He was born in Ireland and died in Hubbard, Dakota, Nebraska.

This obituary was from the North Nebraska Eagle, dated 28 July 1887.

Last Thursday night Hubbard precinct lost one of her best citizens, Mr. James Thornton.  He had been to Jackson and after returning home complained to his wife of not feeling very well.  For some years he had been unable to do a day’s work having hurt his back.  Soon after entering the house he retired never to awaken again.  His funeral took place Saturday followed by a large concourse of friends.

This was apparently also from the North Nebraska Eagle, although I”m not sure if it was from the same edition (I don’t have the original, just a transcription):

Jamas Thornton
A pioneer, a patriot, a neighbor
Has done his part, complet’d the labor

An aged parent, an honored chief
Lies dead, and fills the house with grief.

Friends and mourners gathered
And many a fervent prayer rendered.

That the soul which left the shell
May henceforth with its Maker dwell.

Reader, stop!  and shed a tear
For him who went before, who is your pioneer

July 20, 1887, L.E.

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Filed in Follow Friday

Another week bites the dust – and come to think of it another month!

Phew. Walking, walking and more walking.  Oh and schoolwork with the kids.  Not much genealogy done this week or this month for that matter.  I walked 174 miles during January and managed to lose about 13 pounds along the way.  While I love to walk, it’s incredibly time consuming!!  I did a 20 mile hilly walk last Saturday  and it took my entire morning.  I will definitely slow down after my marathon on March and hopefully I will have some more free time to devote to genealogy again. 🙂

This week’s favorite finds:

Not only did I not do much genealogy this past week, but I didn’t take many pictures either.  Here are the only ones I had sitting on my camera – of my daughter, Tori.

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