Anna born in Norway

[Clark Monson]

I have a very difficult situation. I am trying to find where in Norway a person was born. She lived in the USA. When she got married in the USA on August 13, 1896 it lists her name as "Anna Severson". I recently found her death record from 1959. It lists that she was born in Norway on March 20, 1871. It lists her father's name as "Amann Amundson" and her mother's name as "Martha Knudson". I have no idea how I can find her place of birth in Norway. Does anybody have any ideas?

 

Thank you!

 

Clark Monson

[Celvin Ruisdael]

Hi Clark,

 

Lists of Norwegian emigrants might be the best place to start. Father's name is quite rare, so I reckon it should be good chances to find him (if he didnt completely change his name in the US)

 

Let me take a look ...

[Jon Erik Berg-Hansen]

Hi!

There's no easy solution to this problem!

If her name was Anna Syverson/Sivertsen, surely her father's given name should be Syver(t)/Sivert - not Amun(d).

Or: If her father really was Amun(d) Amundsen - she should be listed as Anna Amun(d)sen.

Have you looked her up in the 1900/10/20 or any later US census?

Any applications for naturalization? When did she immigrate - alone or with parents/brothers or sisters?

Where did she live?

 

Do you know anybody with access to this service:

http://www.archives.com/GA.aspx?FirstName=anna&LastName=Severson&MaidenName=&Location=US&RecordType=3&DeathYear=&MarriageYear=1896&DivorceYear=&_act=AncestorResults

[Clark Monson]

Yes, I agree it makes no sense that her name would be Anna Severson and that her father's names was Amann Amundsen. In the US census records it gives absolutely useless information as to when she came here to the USA. She was divorced from her husband and spent the last ten years of her life in a mental hospital.

[Celvin Ruisdael]

Norway's census of 1865 returns 60 Amund Amunds. born in the period 1845-1855

 

For the same period - born 1845-1855 - we find 140 Martha Knutsd/Knuts (various spellings of surname) recorded in the 1865 census

 

The coverage of 1875 census online is approximately 1/3 of the population, while 1865 covers all.

 

Coverage of emigrants is quite good, but they re scattered over no less than 98 databases (family likely will be found in one of them, but it might require some intensive search to find them)

 

---

 

Yes, her surname looks special, indeed - what can the explanations for her name be ?

[Celvin Ruisdael]

Listing of all emigration related databases

http://digitalarkivet.no/cgi-win/WebMeta.exe?slag=vismeny&fylkenr=&knr=&katnr=5&aar=&dagens=&emnenr=0&alle=true

 

some of them are larger, some smaller. The ones on top of this listing might be the most relevant ones

 

Search hint

 

In box A

Førenamn=First name

Etternamn=Last name

 

In box B

Børjar på=Starts with

 

First name : mar ; last name knu will narrow the number of candidates

 

Box A

År = year

 

Box B

Børjar på=Starts with, example 188 will limit the period to the 1880s

[Jon Erik Berg-Hansen]

A more thorough investigation of the US sources is adviceable - it could save you much time instead of searching for possible combinations in Norway. On the other hand - I'm often amazed by what the users of this forum are able to come up with!

[Celvin Ruisdael]

A more thorough investigation of the US sources is adviceable - it could save you much time instead of searching for possible combinations in Norway. On the other hand - I'm often amazed by what the users of this forum are able to come up with!

 

Yes, I am in agreement !

 

This case seems quite tricky, and based on 1865 there will be just too many people to investigate ...

Sadly, 1875 census returns only a 33 % chance to find the family

 

Btw.: it appears, Norway should establish one universal database covering all emigrants, as it would make searches far more easy. Maybe at some point in the future we will see this happen ... hopefully

 

---

 

As for now, what clue do we have to lead us forward in search ? Every small or bigger input might be valuable ... What about siblings ?

[ArneS]

Yes, I am in agreement !

 

This case seems quite tricky, and based on 1865 there will be just too many people to investigate ...

Sadly, 1875 census returns only a 33 % chance to find the family

 

Btw.: it appears, Norway should establish one universal database covering all emigrants, as it would make searches far more easy. Maybe at some point in the future we will see this happen ... hopefully

 

---

 

As for now, what clue do we have to lead us forward in search ? Every small or bigger input might be valuable ... What about siblings ?

 

Try "Søk i alle basar" on top of this side:;

 

http://digitalarkivet.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&filnamn=ILLI1880&personpostnr=21405&merk=21405

[Celvin Ruisdael]

@ Arne S

 

A "Søk i alle basar" search words Anna, born 1871, last name starting with Siv returned unfortunately in no candidate that could be "our" Anna

[Torbjørn Igelkjøn]

(...)

If her name was Anna Syverson/Sivertsen, surely her father's given name should be Syver(t)/Sivert - not Amun(d).

(...)

 

I believe it is not necesarily so easy. In some cases her father's name could be Amund, while her grandfather's name could be Sivert. In addition, I also believe that family names sometimes existed, even in the 19th century. Thus, her father could really be a Amund Amundsen, even if her surname was Sivertsen.

 

In addition, she could have been married to a Sivertsen before, and then divorced.

 

I have also seen vital certificates from the U.S.A. with wrong names on the parents. It seems to me that sometimes it was more important that the names were readable in English than that the information was correct. No one was thinking of that someone in the future would be using the Internet, using this information trying to find out who they were.

 

My point is that to find a person, we may have to hold many possibilities open.

[Celvin Ruisdael]

To bring in encouragement : tricky cases - like this one - have been solved in the past, and surely they will be solved in the future

 

I am very glad Norway will establish a historical registry of population. This will make information available much more systematic than today, and far more accessable - both for native Norwegians and for those with ancestors from Norway

 

Riksarkivaren of Norway took the initiative to this excellent (and huge) project

[Linda Wathne]

The link ArneS gave, contains the family of Anna, I guess:

 

21403 Sam Severson m 36 f N N N 192 Pilot Kankakee, Ill Illinois

21404 Martha Severson f 32 N N N 192 Pilot Kankakee, Ill Illinois

21405 Anna Severson f 9 N N N 192 Pilot Kankakee, Ill Illinois

21406 Charles Severson m 6 Ill N N 192 Pilot Kankakee, Ill Illinois

21407 Lewis Severson m 3 Ill N N 192 Pilot Kankakee, Ill Illinois

21408 Severine Severson f 9/12 Ill N N 192 Pilot Kankakee, Ill Illinois

 

Anna is born in Norway, but her siblings (half-siblings?) are born in Illinois. Maybe Martha was a widow before marrying Sam, or maybe she wasn`t married at all when she got Anna with A. Amundsen.

 

 

The same family in 1900-census in Iowa?

Familysearch:

Name: Samuel Severson

Titles & Terms:

Residence: Plover village, Pocahontas, Iowa

Birth Date: Mar 1844

Birthplace: Norway

Relationship to Head of Household: Self

Spouse: Martha Severson

Spouse's Titles & Terms:

Spouse's Birthplace: Norway

Father:

Father's Titles & Terms:

Father's Birthplace: Norway

Mother:

Mother's Titles & Terms:

Mother's Birthplace: Norway

Race or Color (expanded): White

Head-of-household Name: Samuel Severson

Gender: Male

Marital Status: Married

Years Married: 24

Estimated Marriage Year: 1876

Mother How Many Children:

Number Living Children:

Immigration Year: 1877

Enumeration District: 0167

Page: 7

Sheet Letter: A

Family Number: 126

Reference Number: 28

Film Number: 1240452

Image Number: 00813

Household Gender Age

Samuel Severson M

Spouse Martha Severson F

Child Lars Severson M

Child Esther Severson F

Child Samuell Severson M

Lewis Larson M

[Torodd Kinn]

If Samuel is the right and original name of the father, we might be looking for Samuel Siversen / Sivertsen / Syversen / Syvertsen or SJURSEN born in Norway around 1844.

 

Here is one Samuel Sivertsen who's returning to North Dakota after a visit back home in Balestrand.

 

He was born in 1844 to parents Sjur Olsen and Setone Halvorsdtr. Vangsnæs, right page here.

 

Of course, this may be a totally wrong person, but he might be worth taking a closer look at.