This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames:
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.carlson/907.1.1.1.1.1.2.2.1.1/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
I can't guarantee that your family joined one of the Swedish American churches (all
Lutheran, I think, and several other denominations) in Jamestown, but they probably did.
If they joined, the information is fantastic. If they didn't join, other important
events (baptisms, confirmations, funerals) were provided, even for nonmembers. I have
found HUGE amounts of information about my Jamestown relatives in Swenson Center records
(including the church records, newspapers, the book about Jamestown, etc.)
I know there is an online database for soldiers. It doesn't include all soldiers. (I
am positive about that since I have people named as soldiers and even officers in parish
records and they aren't on that database. I do not remember the url. Ask on the
General Sweden board.
Genline is much less expensive if you are a member of an organization belonging to the
Swedish Council of America. For example, I get a discount of about $100 on a yearly
membership by being a member of the Swenson Center. There are also discounts for a couple
of genealogical magazines. (They say you have to be a reader. Look at the ads in one of
those magazines to get the code for a discount.) Even an undiscounted rate is about a
dollar a day, which isn't too bad. I have had even better discounts by taking
advantage of various specials Genline has and the best discounts are often found at
genealogical conferences. (Genline often has a display table.)
http://www.swedishcouncil.org/
I'm sorry you don't enjoy searching records on Genline. I find the search fun,
most of the time. (It can be tedious if you don't know where to look, I suppose.)
I have a membership to
Ancestry.com but most of the information I've found on my
Swedes comes from the Swenson Center, Swedish records (not just parish records),
microfilmed cemetary records (such as the ones for Lakeview Cemetary in Jamestown), death
certificates, marriage applications (Many are on microfilm you can order from a Family
History Center.), censuses (including state censuses), obituaries from the Jamestown
newspapers, etc. The best information is often not online.
You can order the Swedish-American newspapers on microfilm from the Swenson Center. There
are directions on how to use interlibrary loan on their site. They do not permit any other
types of records to leave their archive, however.
I found death dates for most of my Jamestown Swedes through the Swenson Center. For later
records, the Jamestown obituaries have provided death dates for some of the people I was
searching. (An obituary for one of my dad's cousins mentioned the death date of his
deceased brother, for example.)
I also have found a lot of death dates using the Social Security Death Index, and ordering
the applications (Yes, they are expensive, but worth it.) has told me other information I
needed.
Have fun!
Judy