Wilhelmina Stenmark

dennisctyler1

Can you provide suggestions on how to find this person? She says she was born in Karbenning, Vastmanland, Sweden on December 26, 1826. I have found records verifying her whereabouts starting in 1844, according to household examinations. I have not been able to find any birth record of her in Karbenning. I suspect she was either illegitimate or an orphan. Where do I go from here? My goal is to find her birth record so I can find her parents.

Ulrich Neitzel

@dennisctyler1

Also the birth of illegitimate children was registered in the birth records. Can you provide the earliest sources you have found for her? One has to work backwards from there.

David2,666

I gave this a shot.. First entry I could find is when she moved away from Karbenning. It says that she moved from Långsjö to Västerfärnebo with Ann. Jonsdr maybe it's Anna Jonsdotter. Since we know when she left, she should be in here! But I can't find her in Långsjö. I think this is a dead end unless I just missed her in Långsjö

David2,666

I figured out that the woman that moved with Wilhelmina was Anna Jansdotter born 1788 and she lived in Långsjö. She's not Wilhelminas mother since she gave birth to her own daughter 1826-12-27. The reference to Långsjö that was made in the move record is for Anna, not Wilhelmina. There is no evidence that Wilhelmina even is from Karbenning parish! I've also checked the "move in" record before 1844 but no luck

Forrest Emmett

I spent some time searching for Wilhelmina's roots with no luck. You might check more thoroughly in the places where I checked.

1. Military records for the surname Stenmark in both Karbenning and neighboring parishes in Västmanland and the neighboring parishes in the county next door Kopparberg.
2. Like David, I found no evidence that Wilhelmina was actually born in Karbenning, try to find moving in records for a Wilhelmina Stenmark in Karbenning.
3. My best suggestion is this: Wilhelmina married Anders Ranstrom. They joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sweden(which is rare). You may be able to find mission records for the Scandinavian Mission or branch records for the area in Sweden where they joined the Church. Records from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may name parents. A search on Ancestry suggests that Wilhelmina actually emigrated to the US with missionaries and other church members. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/4301886:7486?tid=&pid=&queryid=0041f781-3611-46c5-a6d6-adbb2320b074&_phsrc=XUa609&_phstart=successSource

*the mission and branch records would likely be found at the Church History Library https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/

Hope this suggests a new angle for approaching this problem.