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I´m 17 years old now, and my Father recently told me that my grandfathers brother, Henry W. Anderson, emigrated to America when he were young. I would reallly like to get to know what happend to him, and if he has any childrens and so.
I have looked in the Swedish churchbooks.
I can read here that he were born in 8 March 1905 in Chicago.
His parents were Anders Magnus Johansson (1873-1957) and Berta Dorotea Johansson (1881-1960)
He, his parent and his little sister later moved back to Sweden where they came from and to Kråkestad, where he lived till he emigrated. He also got 9 more siblings here, one of them was my grandfather.
In the churchbook I can also read that he emigrated to Rockford, USA, 12 February 1926
I searched for his name on Ancestry, and found a passenger list from the ship he sailed with to New York.
In the document this information exist:
Contract number: 21653
Name: Anderson Henry W.
Born-time: 8.3.05
Birthplace: U.S.A
Homeplace: Krokstad, G&B
Destination: New York
They sailed with the ship "Stockholm" 20/2 1926
Link to image of list: [url=http://sv.tinypic.com/r/2n07xag/9]
I can´t find anything more now, and I would be so happy if I could get some help to continue my search. It would really mean the world to me, as I dont have the real knowledge on how to do this. But I wont stop until i can track him somewhere!
Are there any archives on the persons who arrived to Rockford? Or where should I look further? Whats the next step?
One last thing, if anyone has an membership on Genealogy Search and Family History Records - GenealogyBank, I would need help with a search. I found his exakt name in "Rockford Republic" August 14 1926. In an newspaper article. But i can´t open it, since I dont have a membership. The only things I see is his name and the text "Eight Ward". Anyone who kan look it upp, or tell me what that means?
This became a long post, haha. But I´ll give it a shot.
The way we have addresses in the US is city, state, US.
Rockford is the city, but Illinois is the state.
You may have a problem with records in the US, especially newspaper articles, because "Henry Anderson" is a very common name.
The article you saw on genealogybank was a newspaper listing of property values. It has Henry W. Anderson listed under the "8th ward" (a section of the city) of Rockford, Illinois, with a property valued at $50.
I did find an obituary for him from 1 February 1955 and it mentions the parents' name you have. I will try to copy and upload. If I can't, I will e-mail it to you.
So he lived to age 49. He married a woman named Signe Anderson (it appears Anderson was also her maiden name) in Duluth, Minnesota on May 30, 1942. It appears he never had children.
It said that he lived in Rockford Illinois for 9 years, and before that he lived in Duluth, Minnesota. But that conflicts with the property value records that show him in Rockford in 1926. [Or he lived in Rockford, then Duluth, then back to Rockford]. It's also very possible that there was another Henry W. Anderson in Rockford. But this obituary is definitely your man.
Last edited by Tracysherm; 12-16-2015 at 02:54 PM..
Found out that the middle initial W stands for "Walter" from the Winnebago County Illinois death index:
Name:
Henry Walter Anderson Death Date:
31 Jan 1955
Found him living in Duluth in 1946:
Name:
Henry W Anderson Gender:
Male Residence Year:
1946 Street address:
914H W 2d Residence Place:
Duluth, Minnesota, USA Occupation:
Mechanic Spouse: Signe Anderson Publication Title:
Thank you so, so much for the help, what a fantastic forum this is!
That is the right death-notice, I found the same one earlier today in Rockford Republic 1955.
In the notice where we are told about his Survivors, there are no childrens mentioned. But they were married for 13 years? Does that mean I can be completley sure he didn´t get any sons or daughters?
In my searches I belive i found two Henry W. Anderson in Rockford at that time.
And yes, Walter is correct! My dad told me right now.
They would mention any children in an obituary that is so detailed, which included his memberships, parents, etc.
I can't seem to find him in any census records, but the name is so common. There is another Henry Anderson married to a lady named Signe, but he was born in Sweden.
Our US birth, marriage, death, and residence records are not as good as Sweden's. I go onto Arkiv Digital twice a year when it's free to search for my ancestors. I'm always do impressed with the level of detail and accuracy.
I found an article in a Rockford, Illinois newspaper dated June 2 1942 on 100 people who became US citizens. They list a Signe Elleonora Anderson and a Signe Kristina Anderson. Since Signe married Henry on May 30, 1942, maybe she was sworn in as a US citizen 3 days later?
Later I find a death notice for a Signe E Anderson who died in 1952 at age 62. she had come from Sweden and lived in Rockford, so she was probably the Signe Elleonora above. she not your Signe, but Signe Kristina might be.
I found a death-notice on a Signe K in Rockford. On Thursday, May 24, 1973. Can this be the Signe Kristina you were talking about? If so it must be the wrong one.
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