Help with Swedish Birth record
Carl Wilhelm, born 3 September 1848. Entry 69. I am trying to find a household record that shows his mother, Anna Sofia Wiberg. I am struggling to understand where I find that. Also from other records it looks like he becomes a foster child. Did his mother died or is there some other reason why he becomes a foster child?
Comments
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I am not quite convinced that Anna Sofia Wiberg is the mother. She seems to be listed as a godparent:
Fadd[er]ne: Bagaren C. Wiberg och Jungfru Anna Sofia Wiberg.
However, there is no other name mentioned in the record.
Anyway, the Wibergs are her in the household record for 1847/48:
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0055084_00315
and here for 1849/50:
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0055088_00237
However, no child is mentioned.
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Interesting. I had a patron come in and her mother had worked this line for years trying to figure it out. They say that the mother of Charles William Simpson/Carl Wilhelm is Anna Christina Kumlin, born 23 December 1821 and his father is William Walter Simpson. I have not been able to find this father any where. The family says that he was born in Sweden. I am still working on that one. I did find Anna and Carl listed together but Carl Wilhelm is listed as a foster child. This led me to look in a different place for his birth record. The information about his birth namely date and place match. Here are the records that I have been able to find so far. Perhaps you can help me fill in the holes. Also shown is Johan Ferdinand Schultz, born 15 April 1815. Anna and Johan were engaged in August 1857 married 1 January 1858. The family says he died in Denmark, 15 July 1860. I have not track them that far yet. Anna and Carl came to America in 1862. I can see why her mother struggled so much to figure this out. It is a challenge.
I still have gaps in my research on Anna Christina Kumlin. I have records for her as follows
1836-1838 in Täby, 1843 in Klara, 1845-1846 in Storkyroförsamlingen, 1849-1852 in Katarina, and 1857 in Katarina.
upper right hand family
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0055682_00196
left side, second grouping
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0055686_00099
right side, second grouping
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Hi!
Carl Wilhelm's birth record can be found in "Baptismal records for illegitimate children"
So, with that in mind we can clearly see that no parents are listed in the record but there is however an adress to the mother I believe on row 3, it says "Modren bor vid Besvärsgatan….no 29" I can't read the rest but that information isn't much to go on. The rest of your sources are just Carl in his foster family, they are not related to him. I'd have to say that this is a dead end if you don't have any other form of source material
I did some digging on Anna Christina but she's not the mother of Carl Wilhelm
Birth record, Ramsta C:2 picture 226, born as Anna Stina, F:Anders Eriksson Kumlin, M: Katarina Eriksdotter Berg
First entry: Ramsta Al:3 page 37 in Lunds ägor, 5 siblings here
Storkyrkoförsamlingen Al:39 page 183, ca 1840, alone as maid
Storkyrkoförsamlingen Al:42 page 31, ca 1843, alone
Storkyrkoförsamlingen Al:45 page 127, ca 1846, alone
Maria Magdalena Ala:60 page 15, alone
Maria Magdalena Ala:68 page 151, with Schultz
Katarina Al:99 page 445
Katarina Al:101 (1851-1852) page 525, birth date is 1821-12-12
Katarina Al:105 page 231 row 12
Katarina Al:108 page 177
Katarina Al:111 page 1850 -
I am not able to dive in all the details of this case. Just a few general remarks.
- One should be very careful about identifying two people as identical. Just having the same birthday and the same given names is not enough.
- The name of the birth mother of Charles William still seems to be unclear.
- The surname "Simpson" is not a Swedish one; if William Walter Simpson was really born in Sweden his birth name will be different.
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At second glance, in the birth record for Carl Wilhelm there is a void between "Döptes" and "/27/ Son". This is similar for almost all records. I think this is the place where normally the name of the parents would be given. "27" is probably the age of the mother, so her birth year would be 1820 or 1821. But the name of the mother is still unknown.
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Thank you so much for your reminders and insights. I am a volunteer working off the teaching that others have taught me so I am really thankful to have reminders and guidelines you give me.
I will continue to see what records I can find to figure out what is fact and what is not.
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Can you help me understand how to work in Stockholm better? It seems the people move but it does show in the clerical record and the moving books. What am I missing about tracking someone?
I can see what you are saying about the birth record. There are a few on that page with information in that space. That is interesting. What about the phrase after Anna Sofia Wiberg. Doesn't is say Modren born vid?
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Thank you for all the records. It did help a lot. I am still working on the other information. Hopefully I will be able to find answers.
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Hi!
If you look at my previous answer I'm pretty sure it's the adress to the mother, the Wiberg's are not the parents since they are "Faddrar"( I don't know any english word for this). I'm certain that this is a dead end since the mother is not in the record. That suggests that she didn't have any interest in the child. She could be a street worker.. the thing is, she didn't even wanted to be mentioned in her childs birth record!0 -
Faddrar translates as Sponsors.
As I review this page in the birth book I can see that most of the records do not contain information about parents. I am not sure why they are not listed.
What looks like an address I think says - Modren bor vid Besvå..gatan Qwart: Ormen större No. 29. That seems to lead to this record about Anna Sofia Wiberg but Anna Sofia is listed as a Sponsors of the christening. I am not sure what to make of it.
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0055084_00315
It is the time period when Carl Wilhelm was born but he is not listed here and no notes are given about him.
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Can you help me understand how to work in Stockholm better? It seems the people move but it does show in the clerical record and the moving books. What am I missing about tracking someone?
I personally have no experience with research in the Stockholm area. I see that there are moving books for several (most?) of the Stockholm parishes. How complete they are is hard to say.
I can see what you are saying about the birth record. There are a few on that page with information in that space. That is interesting. What about the phrase after Anna Sofia Wiberg. Doesn't is say Modren born vid?
The text for the moder is - as @David2,666 already remarked - Modern bor vid Befvärsgatan Qwart:[eret] Ormen större No. 29 (The mother lives on Befvärsgatan in the quarter Ormen större No. 29). This is exactly the address of the Wiberg people acting as godparents. Therefore, it can be assumed that the unnamed mother lived in the same household. Looking at the household examination record ( https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0055084_00315#?c=&m=&s=&cv=314&xywh=298%2C385%2C2935%2C1747) there is one female person who was born in 1821, Pigan E. Rosenbeck. However, it is completely speculative to identify her as the mother of Carl Vilhelm.
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Do you know why some people have numbers next to their names but most do not?
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I guess that the number is part of the address. All the people under the one given with the number probably had the same number/address.
About the birth record of Carl Vilhelm: I assume that most of the births in this book were so-called anonymous births in a maternity home. Mothers who were unmarried and could not or would not take care of their child could give birth in these homes and the child would be placed in an orphanage or foster home. There are sources that in the mid 19th century about 40% of children in Stockholm were born out of wedlock:
https://popularhistoria.se/sveriges-historia/fodd-utanfor-aktenskapet
Many of the mothers had moved from the country to the city and worked as maids, with no possibility to care for a child.
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Thank you for sharing. It gave me a lot of insight to the challenges women faced during that time. My heart breaks for them.
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https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0055211_00181
The last line of Carl Vilhelm's birth record seems to say some about Christ. Hagstorn. Is this the foster person that took him in after he was born? Is there a way to find that household record?
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Christina Hagtorn was the midwife (Barnmorska) at the birth. She is named as such also in the two preceding records.
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ok. sigh. I am trying to close the record gap. The first record I have and believe it to show the same child is in 1851 in Katarina, but I don't know how he got here or where he was for the past 3 years. I also have not been able to find him between 1852-1856.
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0055682_00196
He also show up on these two records.
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0055686_00099
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0055687_00298
Anna Stina Kumlin is shown as moving into Maria Magdalena in 1846.
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0055129_00106
but when go to the page I think the record says she is, I can't find her. I feel like I am missing something. I don't have another record for her until 1849.
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0055083_00103
1849
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If Carl Vilhelm had been born in a maternity home and 'given away' immediately after birth, he might have been placed in an orphanage before being taken in by a foster family. There may be documents about these institutions somewhere in an archive, but I don't know how to find them.
The records you have found show that he was placed with at least two different families (Östergren 1851/52, Schultz 1856, 1857), if this is the same Carl Wilhelm.
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Here is some background material about the rules in Sweden for anonymous birth:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infanticide_Act_(Sweden)
and about the oldest orphanage (barnhem) in Stockholm:
https://stockholmskallan.stockholm.se/teman/stockholms-sociala-historia/barnhem/ (in Swedish, use yout browser's translate function)
There is also a story about (another) Carl Vilhelm, born 1866, who was taken up at this orphanage (with records, so they seem to be archived somewhere, possibly Stockholm city archive).
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Before I got your second message I started looking for information on orphanage and found this.
https://sok.stadsarkivet.stockholm.se/Databas/allmanna-barnhusets-rullor-1800-1916/Sok?sidindex=0&inskrivningsar=1849&fornamn=Carl%2bWilhelm
He is the second entry - Nummer 4521. I will have to come back to this later as I need to get going on my day but it does confirm the other records I have found of families that he lived with. I would be very grateful for any help you can give on the information listed.
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Yes, these docs confirm that Carl Wilhelm was born anonymously (no parents named, no surname), that he was taken to "barnhuset" on 29 Jan 1849, that he was taken in by police constable Anders Petter Östergren on 30 April 1849, and later on 1 July 1855 by Mamsell Anna Stina Kumlin. "Mamsell" was the title for an unmarried woman at that time. It is interesting that Johan Ferdinand Schultz is not named.
In doc no. 4521 (the older one) it is also stated that Carl Wilhelm is "being raised by boatsman Anders Petter Jansson Björkman in Björkmans torp i Övertjärna community". Övertjärna is probably Överjärna parish:
I am not sure what this remark means and I've not checked the household records.
After that In doc. 4521 there is the remark
"Flyttar till Stockholm och antaget namnet Östergren __? är? extra Polis Constapel"
(Moves to Stockholm and takes the name Östergren ___? extra police constable)There seems to be some discrepancy with the timing in doc. 8101.
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@Ulrich Neitzel Thank you for helping me to work through this. I will keep looking.
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0030095_00092
Here is the household record in Övertjärna. He is not show with them but there is a different foster child listed with them. They are shown as moving to Stockholm in 1850 but I can't find them moving into Maria Magdalena or Katarina even through I have a household record that shows them in Katarina in 1851.
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I found one - 1855. I don't understand how it connects with the orphanage record though. I also don't understand the others that are listed under Anna Stina Kumlin. Also on that second orphanage record it states something about Copenhagen under the date 1859 which could be when they moved to Denmark.
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The names that are listed below Carl Gustaf(!) have the title lärlingen = apprentice, apparently of the shoemaker trade.
The remark in the record of the Barnhuset is: Vistas i Köpenhamn = Staying in Copenhagen; but I think there is no date given. The column in the right refers to the payment of support to the foster parents.
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I am working on understanding the record from the orphanage. I am looking at 4521 or the first record
It looks like he was first accepted in the orphanage 30 April 1849 with also a date 1 May 1849. The record indicates an annual visit with the dates given as
1 September 1849, 1850, 1851, 1854 and 1 July 1852.
The child of this record is Carl Wilhelm, born 3 September 1848. I am not quite sure about what is under him. It looks like ympad. No. 179 S. B. Inlöft
He is being raised by Bästsmannen Anders Petter Jansson Björkman in Björkmanstorp Övertjärna Parish.
The rest of the information I am unsure what it is all about. This is what I think it may say.
Menskas
1850 23-2 Kallg.
1851 28-7 "
dito
1851 1/2
moves to Stockholm and takes the name Östergren ? extra police constable
No. 10 ?
Menskas till
färhäjes till
Bägg?ern gränd 11-8 Mankleöger 28
Min? till
Are these a list of places where he lived? Am I close to what is written?
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I have put my explanations (as far as I can give them) in bold:
It looks like he was first accepted in the orphanage 30 April 1849 with also a date 1 May 1849. (I don't know why there are two different dates).
The record indicates an annual visit with the dates given as1 September 1849, 1850, 1851, 1854 and 1 July 1852.
(These dates do not refer to visits, but to changes in the annual maintenance (årligt underhåll) the foster parent receives; cf. third main column, the numbers are probably Riksdaler. The rightmost column "Afmönstrade" seems to refer to the payments)The child of this record is Carl Wilhelm, born 3 September 1848. I am not quite sure about what is under him. It looks like ympad (correct, means vaccinated). No. 179 S. B. Inlöst (inlöst = cashed/redeemed, not sure what it refers to)
He is being raised by Båtsmannen Anders Petter Jansson Björkman in Björkmanstorp Övertjärna Parish.
The rest of the information I am unsure what it is all about. This is what I think it may say.
(The following notes are mainly about the changes in annual maintenance and address changes)
Minskas (is reduced)
1850 23/2 (23 Feb) Kallg.
1851 28/7 (28 Jul) "
dito
1851 1/2
moves to Stockholm and takes the name Östergren ? extra police constable
No. 10 Berg___gränd??
__ Quarng[atan] 5
Tullg[atan] N. 18
Minskas till (is reduced to)
förhöjes till (is increased to)
Bäggare? gränd 11-8 Munklägerg[atan]? 28
Minskas till (is reduced to)
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Thank you. That does make sense. Here is my thoughts on what 8101 says
Handed over to Police Constable Anders Petter Östergren; M____lögus gränd No. 13
Flyttan till Mamsell Anna Stina Kumlin, Stads Frödgårdsgaton No. 25 Cath. Jönsd. Cath. Högbergsgata No. 26 Göthgatan No. 51
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Some minor edits:
Handed over to Police Constable Anders Petter Östergren; Munklägers gränd No. 13
Flyttas till Mamsell Anna Stina Kumlin, Stads Trädgårdsgatan No. 25 Cath. Försl. (Catharina Församling) Cath. Högbergsgata No. 26 Göthgatan No. 51
Vistas i Köpenhamn
Comments:
This record clearly states that Carl Wilhelm entered the orphanage on 29 Jan 1849 against a payment of 100 Riksdaler. "No. 179 Sp.B." is apparently the admission protocol number, dated Wednesday (Onsdag) 31 Jan 1849.
30 April 1849 is the date when he was handed over to the first foster parent, Anders Petter Östergren.
Record No. 8101 is a continuation of No. 4521 concerning the maintenance payments. It documents the payments from 1855 to 1862.
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Interesting. Anna and Carl leave Denmark for American in April 1862.
Stads Trädgårdsgatan in a place in Katarina. Are Högbergsgatan and Göthgatan also places in Katarina? I am not seeing either place in Katarina or Maria Magdalena.
I looked in Stads Trädgårdsgatan and I did not see either of them.
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Högbergsgatan is a long street that goes through Maria Magdalena and Katarina. "Cath. Högbergsgatan" means the part in Katarina parish.
Göt(h)gatan is also a long street that goes (mainly?) through Katarina, I believe.
The household registers are sorted after quarters (neighbourhoods), not street names - how do you look for a specific person?
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