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Question:Anderson (not sure of the spelling) to Wiberg and lived in Wrentham, Massachusetts. How can I identify some old family portraits that came from Sweden? Is there a way I can locate the genealogy if the names were changed? None of the photos have names on them, but are in a bound book, so I know they are important to the family tree. Where do I go?


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Anderson (not sure of the spelling) to Wiberg and lived in Wrentham, Massachusetts. How can I identify some old family portraits that came from Sweden? Is there a way I can locate the genealogy if the names were changed? None of the photos have names on them, but are in a bound book, so I know they are important to the family tree. Where do I go?

Re: photo research: I've read several articles about the most well-known genealogy photo expert, Maureen Taylor, aka the "Photo Detective." (See this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB11921496... It's fascinating work!

She's written a book "Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs" that may be helpful. See worldcat.org to find out what libraries near you have it. She also writes a blog: http://photodetective.blogspot.com and she accepts research (for a fee.) I don't want to seem like I'm "plugging" her, but she's the expert in the field!

Regarding your main genealogy research, you will still need to find documents to trace this family: probate/will, death, land, military, naturalization/immigration, marriage, baptism, birth, etc. That is the only way to trace their ancestry. Each document will likely provide additional clues until you have "the big picture."

Also, they may not have been "required" to change their names. (Required by whom?) Swedish naming patterns were extremely flexible AND they often (but not always) used the patronymic system in which a child was known as the son or daughter of the father, using the father's first name. For example, a man named Sven could have a daughter Anna Svensdotter and a son Andres Svensson. A good article to read on this is here:
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/ar...
It sounds as if until 1860 or so, folks who didn't use the patronymic pattern could almost choose whatever they wanted!

In 1901 a law required people to adopt permanent surnames to be passed onto successive generations.

Also, the Family History Library (aka Mormon Genealogy Library) has excellent resources on Sweden. See this page for several research outlines:
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/R...

This is an excellent website you should visit, too, regarding Swedish research. It lists the best online resources, both free and fee-based:
http://www.pricegen.com/scandinaviangene... (far right column of page.)

The Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center is another excellent resource. See their website: http://www.augustana.edu/swenson/genealo...
If you can't travel to Rockford, IL (I don't know where you're located) you can still use their research services -- for a fee. They have parish records, church records, passenger indexes, newspapers, city directories, etc.

I hope some of these suggestions will help you! Good luck!

Swedes and Finns changing their names was a very common phenomenon. The best resource in the country on Swedish genealogy is the Center for Scandinavian Studies at North Park University of Chicago. It's a college founded by Swedes who also founded the Swedish Covenant Church. Their resource base is better than most of what's on the internet. http://www.northpark.edu/home/index.cfm?...

The next resource is Genline. It's the closest you'll get to Ancestry.com for the Scandinavian set. It details Swedish Church records, births, marriages and deaths. http://www.genline.com/
This site also provides links to other excellent resources.

As for photos, the hard part is that there aren't names on them. If you can find the photographer...and on the off chance that the photographer is still in business, then it's possible to find sitting cards. But if the photographer is out of business and if no one did anything to identify who was in the photos, then I'll differ with other answers. You won't have much luck tracking down who's in the photos. Unless there's a living relative to identify them, that's the end of the road. But again, since North Park has links to Sweden and a sister school with whom they do staff and student exchanges, you may have a chance of getting someone who can help you figure out if the photographer's records still exist and how to make contact.

Yes that's it. I have bought a book from the website ancestry.com and written down was that most of the immigrants had their last name changed due to the fact that it would be easier to pronounce to the Americans, and sometimes to avoid criticism of others because of their background.