Here is a link to a PowerPoint presentation I gave Jan. 19 at Bend Genealogical Society. Just click on the image below. You may then view or download all the slides and notes in PDF format. This serves as the “handout” for the talk, and may also be of interest to some Erickson relatives. It illustrates my two-step search approach, using the indexes of FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com to find key details, then locating the corresponding records in the online archives of Norway and Sweden.
The talk was a case study of a “shirttail” ancestor named Olof Erickson, who came to Vernon County, Wisconsin, from Gudbrandsdal, Norway (as did my great-grandparents, and practically all other settlers in the small community of “Norwegian Valley”). Olof, however, was born and raised in Sweden, living in Gudbrandsdal only briefly before immigrating. In the study, we trace his roots and ancestry in Sweden, using the online resource “ArkivDigital,” and also touch on use of the Digital Archive of Norway.
We explored the Erickson-Larson connection in a series of blog posts. Read more …
Olof’s page in the family tree can be reached at this link. The new ancestors discovered in this study have been added to his pedigree.
Below are some of the websites we used and talked about in the show.
FamilySearch.Org:
https://familysearch.org/
Digital Archive of Norway:
http://www.arkivverket.no/eng/Digitalarkivet
ArkivDigital Sweden ($):
http://www.arkivdigital.net/
Denmark National Archive
https://www.sa.dk/en/home/online
Finland HisKi Project:
http://hiski.genealogia.fi/historia/indexe.htm
First 3 were used in this study; I have not explored the sites for Denmark and Finland.
Cyndi’s List
http://www.cyndislist.com/
(categories: Norway, Sweden, etc. Many links to word lists, handwriting guides, sources)
https://www.bing.com/translator
Map sites (to locate farm names)
http://kart.gulesider.no//
http://kartor.eniro.se/
http://kart.finn.no/
Translation sites still improving.
All three map sites have different place name coverage.
I used at least 2 for map slides.
Coming soon: the Drayer family.
